March is a month of transition between cold winter-like storms and warm, spring-like weather. This week we’ll experience a bit of both. We started the week with some snow for northern Colorado into Wyoming and southern Montana. We’ll end the week with warm spring skiing all across the Rockies with the lower elevation cities like Salt Lake City and Denver seeing temperatures into the 70s on Friday.
The dry weather won’t last for long, though, as two weak storms move through the northern Rockies this weekend. The first will bring a bit of cooling and a bit of snow to Montana, Wyoming, and northern Colorado on Saturday. I don’t expect this storm to produce much snow, and any snow that does fall will be warm and wet thanks to the higher temperatures. A second storm Sunday afternoon and Sunday night will bring a stronger blast of colder air and deeper snow and will target mostly the same areas from northern Colorado through Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho. If it drops far enough south, northern Utah could get in on the action. There is still some uncertainty about the exact track of this storm, but I think a general expectation for 3-6 or 4-8 inches of snow for favored areas is a good forecast.
In the wake of the Sunday evening storm, Monday and Tuesday of next week will be dry. But then a storm (or series of storms) will move in from Wednesday through Friday. This storm could produce a good deal of snow for most locations in the Rockies and bears watching. Winter isn’t over just yet!
Joel Gratz is a Meteorologist and the creator of OpenSnow.com.
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