#heavy-snow-accumulation

#heavy-snow-accumulation

Timberline is the clear winner for open terrain with around 7-9 inches, while Mt. Bachelor picks up 4-5 inches but remains closed. Most Washington resorts look too warm or too dry for meaningful new snow.

The ongoing Sunday night into Monday storm across the central Andes keeps producing mainly upper-mountain snow through Monday before tapering out by Tuesday morning, April 21. A realistic near-term outcome is about 16-20 cm at Las Leñas, 9-11 cm at Valle Nevado, and lighter 5-8 cm amounts around El Colorado, La Parva, and Portillo.

The ongoing storm is expected to add 13-16 cm at Banff Sunshine and around 4-5 cm at Lake Louise by Friday morning, with the deepest moisture focused on Alberta.

Residents should prepare for the worst of the storm late Sunday night, when snowfall rates could exceed 2 inches per hour. The weather service believes the heaviest snow will come down from 7 p.m. Sunday through about 12 p.m. Monday. The snow is expected to develop Sunday morning and afternoon, possibly mixing with rain at the onset before tapering off late Monday morning into Monday afternoon.

But what, exactly, is a blizzard? A blizzard doesn't always mean "a lot of snow," though it can certainly bring heavy snowfalls, as this storm is expected to along parts of the East Coast. Rather, the National Weather Service defines it as a snowstorm with winds regularly above 35 miles per hour and "considerable falling" or blowing snow for at least three hours.

By April 1, the state's long-term snow data showed conditions unlike anything previously recorded. Of the 64 manual snow course sites in Colorado with records stretching back more than 50 years, 60 either tied or set their lowest April 1 readings ever observed.

A bomb cyclone produced freezing temperatures across a large portion of the US from the Gulf coast to New England, bringing heavy snow to North Carolina where two were killed in storm-related conditions, and setting records in Florida, where officials warned of ice and falling iguanas. About 150 million people were under cold weather advisories and extreme cold warnings in the eastern portion of the US,

Many of us are riding the high of the recent major snowstorm wondering when the next big powder day will swing through. Unfortunately for most of North America, it looks like the snowy weather won't be returning anytime soon, or at least not for the next week. Meteorologist Chris Tomer 's Mountain Weather Update paints a rather sad picture for snowfall totals in North America between January 29th and February 5th.

The midweek stretch looks like the most reliable window for fresh turns, with the steadiest snow lining up Wednesday night into Thursday and lighter add-ons into Friday. Snow levels run a little high early, then step down late week, so snow quality should improve as the storm cycle matures. Some areas could see the next wave begin as early as Sun night (02/15), but confidence drops quickly with lead time and placement.

To get back to average snowpack, we essentially need to have the most snow that we've ever had for the last 30 years between now and mid-April. It would be extremely difficult for Colorado to get back to a normal/average snowpack. As an example, when looking at the Independence Pass SNOTEL site in central Colorado outside of Aspen, we typically have 13 inches of snow-water-equivalent at the end of February. This year, we only have 6.7 inches of SWE.

Sunday and Monday stay sharply cold with only light nuisance snow early, followed by a better but still modest snowfall window Tuesday afternoon through early Wednesday. After that, confidence drops as a broader Thursday night through weekend precipitation cycle arrives with bigger spread on snow versus rain at different elevations.

From late Saturday night through Sunday, guidance is converging on timing and warmer snow levels but diverging on intensity and ridge-top wind magnitude, with the most consistent signal for light snowfall in the northern and central ranges and limited coverage farther south. Most mountains should stay in the low single digits for accumulation during this first push, with favored terrain near the Continental Divide able to approach around 4 inches by Sunday evening.