Where's the Snow this Weekend: West Coast Report 11/21/12

Continued strong precipitation up in the Pacific Northwest

Oregon and Washington are reporting impressive snowfall totals during the last few days with anywhere from a foot near Mt. Hood to over three feet on the upper reaches of Mt. Bachelor. The consistent storms over the last week brought plenty of precipitation, but the devil is always in the snow level as parts of these storms are a bit on the warm side. Rain fell at lower-elevation resorts or the base areas of the higher elevation resorts.

Looking ahead, Thanksgiving Day will be dry and quiet, but another storm looms on the horizon for Friday and Friday night. A few feet of snow is possible at the highest elevations, though the snow level will fluctuate between 5,000 and 7,000 feet during the storm, so much of this snowfall will be elevation dependent. Still, moisture is a good thing and snow at the highest elevations should bring a smile to most skiers’ and riders’ faces, even if they do have to dodge some rain drops lower down.

Saturday night through Monday night will be mostly dry and sunny (with the exception of some flakes further north near the Washington/British Columbia border), so get out and enjoy the bright sun and soft snow underfoot!

Another series of storms will begin in British Columbia and Washington on Tuesday night and continue through much of next week for Oregon as well. And during the first few days of December, this stormy pattern will likely shift south and bring additional snow to Tahoe. All in all, it’s been a great November, and early December looks good as well.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Joel Gratz is a Meteorologist and the creator of OpenSnow.com.