Wednesday, May 1, 2024

Good Skiing Early Next Week?

Forecasts for late Sunday and early next week are, how shall I put it, interesting.  Both the GFS (below) and the Euro are bringing a deep upper-level trough and strong cold front into northern Utah on Sunday afternoon.  

Then, in the wake of that system, there's a prolonged period of moist, northwesterly flow with a couple of weak disturbances thrown in to help juice things up.  Below is the forecast for 1500 UTC (9 AM MDT) Monday showing heavy orographic snow showers over the Wasatch.  


The forecast 700-mb temperatures at that time are also about -7°C, which could drop snow levels to near the benches.  

For upper Little Cottonwood, the latest GFS is going off and produces 3" of water and 35" of snow for Alta-Collins from around 11 AM Sunday through noon Tuesday.  


That is, however, an upper-end forecast, topped by only a few members of the downscaled NAEFS.  the NAEFS mean is closer to 2" of water and a bit over 20" of snow.  There's also a good deal of spread, indicating a wide range of possible outcomes. 
 

That said, it looks like cold air is coming and with it the potential for significant mountain snow.  We'll see if things come together for this early May storm.  

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