Opening Outlook

Thursday 11/7 Update:

Well, the computer models have changed their tune (which they are good at doing)... and now it seems that Monday's storm will become Tuesday's storm instead. Worse, it now looks like a much warmer weather system. The snow will come at some point... it always does. But at this point, it seems that ski/snowboard season is at least two weeks away.

Original post:

After nearly three weeks of dry weather and high pressure over the Northwest... finally, a pattern change is in sight. While it doesn't appear that we're headed back to the very Cascade snow-friendly pattern that persisted during the first three weeks of October, we will be entering a wetter pattern that should bring some snow to the mountains.

The first system is due Friday... I expect minimal rain/snow from that storm. Consider it the sacrifical lamb -- the storm will die as it squashes the dominant high pressure ridge. From there, the door is open to stronger storm that should hold together when it moves in Saturday. That storm should drop a few inches of snow at Timberline & Mt. Hood Meadows. Ski Bowl is probably too low to get snow from Saturday's system. A third storm, due Monday, looks more promising yet -- and slightly colder. While not a whopper, another 4-8" should fall... even at Ski Bowl.

Looking further ahead, more typical November weather appears likely; meaning that weak to moderate storms should move through every 1-2 days. The snow base should gradually grow with each passing storm. We could really use a whopper storm to greatly add to the snow base, but I don't see that kind of storm coming in the short term.

So... we will probably need to be patient for a little while longer. With each storm that moves through, excitement and anticipation should continue to build... and with some luck, Thanksgiving skiing and boarding is definitely still possible. I'm still not ready to call it a likelihood, however.

-DJ