Grasshopper’s Weekly North American Forecast – 26th December – Pow For (Almost) All
Mountainwatch | The Grasshopper
Four waves and a sweeping low – plenty of powder for all, except the northern Sierras.
Wednesday 25th December (Pacific Time)
A big Merry Christmas to you all!
If you didn’t already have enough to entertain you over this holiday period, a tidy wee low will sweep down south to deliver 25-40cm of powder to those nether regions, followed by four waves that will come crashing of the Pacific to spread 30-50cm+ down from the northwest.
The only area that’ll miss out on most of the action will be the northern Sierras, but with a massive snowpack already there, it won’t be enough to spoil the revelry
Thursday-Friday
In a sweeping arc, a low-pressure system will duck under California today, then pass over Arizona and New Mexico before rubbing shoulders with Colorado on Friday, as it heads into the Great Plains.
Snowfalls will follow suit; light-heavy falls will clear the Sierras on Thursday as they spread to Arizona and New Mexico, then they’ll get going over Utah and Colorado during Friday. The highest totals will be in the Southern Sierras and southern mountains of Arizona and Colorado, where 25-40cm is expected (there could be up to 60cm on the high bits of the Southern Sierras!).
While this is all happening, further north, a front coming off the Pacific will spread light-moderate snowfalls over Canadian resorts and the Cascades during Thursday. As these snowfalls peter out on Friday, a few sprinkles will also make it to mountains in the north of Idaho and Montana. All up, we’re mostly looking at 5-10cm for this northern tier.
Saturday-Sunday
While remaining light, scattered snowfalls eventually clear the southern tier of the American Rockies on Saturday, the next wave hits the northwest, spreading light-moderate snowfalls over Canadian resorts, the Cascades, and eventually reaching Idaho and Montana late Saturday and early Sunday.
A low following close behind on Sunday will send a third wave of moderate snowfalls crashing over Canada, the Cascades, and down the Northern Sierras and Nevada. Light snowfalls from the previous wave will still be going over the American Rockies down to Utah and Colorado, but will be joined by this second wave later in the day.
Monday-Wednesday
Remaining light, spurious snowfalls over the Sierras and American Rockies will clear before the fourth and final wave comes surging off the Pacific from Monday.
This one will be the biggest yet, and will spread moderate-heavy snowfalls first over Canada on Monday, then the Cascades and American Rockies down to the north of Colorado and Utah during Tuesday.
Light snowfalls will eventually continue spreading south during Wednesday, down through the south of Utah and Colorado and into New Mexico. Looking at the overall picture on this New Year’s Day, we see a monstrous northerly flow stretching down along pretty much the entire North American Cordillera, with only the Sierras missing out on the snow.
