The Grasshopper’s Weekly North American Forecast – Cascades and Sierras to Cop Big Snowfalls as “Little Foot” follows in the steps of big brother
Mountainwatch | The Grasshopper
Wednesday 6thof February (Pacific time)
As Big Foot stomps off to the east, the trail of powder he left measures between 2-3m in the Sierras where we have already seen roughly three times the amount of snow fall than what we saw for the entire month last year, and the madness has only just begun. Big Foot’s younger sibling, Little Foot, will follow in its brother’s footsteps and dump about 1-1.5m over the Cascades and Sierras this week, with 30-60cm making it farther inland. With all the action taking place to the south, Canada will be left wanting with only 10-20cm on the cards. The extended outlook looks promising too, as the rest of the sasquatch family are looking to make a similar pilgrimage across North America.
Thursday 7 Feb:
As Big Foot stomps off to the east, the last remaining snowfalls over Wyoming, Utah and Colorado will peter out today as high pressure builds. A front drifts south to drop light snowfalls over more northern placed Canadian resorts, eventually reaching southern resorts late in the day. Meanwhile, a low in the Pacific makes a beeline towards northern California and there will be a light snow shower in the northern Sierras during the afternoon.
Friday 8 Feb:
Snowfalls will ramp up in the Sierras from afternoon as the low reaches the coastline, with moderate to heavy falls at night. Meanwhile, light to moderate snowfalls will spread south from Canada to the Cascades, Idaho and Montana as a second low spins up just offshore of Vancouver Island.
Saturday 9 Feb:
Reminiscent of Big Foot, the two lows will join forces in the northwest to form what we’re calling “Little Foot” (Big Foot’s younger sibling), which will drop heavy snow over the Cascades and Sierras. Lighter snowfalls over southern Canadian resorts, as well as Idaho, Montana, Nevada and Utah, will eventually spread to Wyoming and Colorado late in the day.
Sunday 10 Feb:
A band of heavy snowfalls traverses southwards over the Sierras as Little Foot wanders inland to end up in the middle of the American Rockies. Idaho and Nevada will also receive light to moderate snowfalls throughout most of the day, while lighter falls elsewhere will mostly clear.
Monday 11 Feb:
Utah will get a nice dump of powder before dawn, followed by Colorado during the morning, as Little Foot bids us farewell and continues to journey east. There’ll be light snow showers and flurries elsewhere over the Rockies, while another low swings past Vancouver Island to give the Cascades another heavy load of snow with lighter falls clipping the respective northern and southern tip of the Sierras and Coast Mountains.
Tuesday 12 Feb
Heavy snowfalls over the Cascades will gradually ease as the low tracks overhead to Idaho and Montana, who will also receive light to moderate falls throughout the day as will southern placed resorts in Canada. There may be some heavy falls on the northern flanks of the Sierras with light falls eventually spreading further south at night.
Wednesday 13 Feb:
As the low continues to track SE over the High Plains, snowfalls over the Sierras and northern states will gradually ease while Colorado get their fair share during the latter half of the day. A low approaching from the Gulf of Alaska will spread snowfalls south over Canada to reach the southern border at night.
Extended Outlook:
It seems the whole family of Sasquatches are making the pilgrimage across North America with another low, or set of lows, looking likely to track over the NW to wander farther inland from next Thursday through into the weekend. The Cascades and Sierras are in a good position to capitalise on this storm and snowfalls also look decent for all other American states. It is uncertain how exactly Canada will fare in all this, but it’s likely they won’t see the same amount of snowfall as America will.
