MOUNTAIN WEATHER FORECAST

Time and Day: 0630 Thursday

The Snapshot: Light intermittent snow showers today and tomorrow with cooler temperatures.  More winter storms for the weekend.  

The Science

Current Observations: .66” of water converted to 5” of snow overnight.  The temperature is 32 at the base and 28 at the top of Tye Mill.  The barometer is low at 1006mb’s.  The upper-level winds shifted westerly around midnight last night and just shifted westerly at Pass level.  Satellite radar has the cold/occluded front east of the mountains.   

The Forecast:  Now that the frontal system has passed, the precipitation will shift to showers and the freezing levels will fall below 4000’.   A low-pressure system spinning over the PNW waters will track NE over the next few days.  This will bring cooler unstable air and intermittent snow showers to mountains for the next few days.

The Long Range:  A very active weather pattern will persist through the weekend and likely into next week.  Temperatures look to be in favor of snow for most of these storms.  If models are correct, we could have significant new snow on the ground by the middle of next week.     

24hr Precipitation ending at 4 a.m: Today 24hr water:.25  snow: 1-3 Tomorrow’s 24hr water:.5-.75  snow: 4-6 Trend and Timing: Light to moderate intermittent snow showers today.

24hr temperature ending at 4 a.m:  Low:26     High: 32 Freezing level: 4000’ – 3000’ Trend and Timing:    Freezing levels will fall to 3000’ over the next 24hrs.

24hr Winds (mph) ending at 4 a.m: Base: 5-10 WSW Ridge Top: 10-15 WSW Trend and Timing: WSW winds will be gusty today.

jM