New snow has been hard to come by lately... but it looks like that's about to change. It now appears that, starting Friday night, a much more favorable weather pattern (for Cascade snow) will develop over the Northwest.
The graphic above is my 7-day forecast for Mount Hood. As you can see, I expect that the snow level will remain at or below pass-level for the entire week coming up. The mountain will get a shot at significant snow from three moderate-intensity storms that are lined-up in the Pacific. The first one arrives Friday night and continues through Saturday. After a brief break on Sunday, storm #2 arrives Sunday night and continues through Monday. Tuesday is up on the air... we'll be on the northern edge of a storm that is headed towards southern Oregon and northern California. Storm #3 is scheduled to arrive later Wednesday. All three storms should provide at least 8-12" of new snow... and possibly more than that.
Obviously, if this forecast holds, the ski areas will get a MUCH NEEDED boost to their snow bases heading into the critical holiday period. While the snow cover is marginally sufficient at Timberline and Mt. Hood Meadows right now, Skibowl and Mt. Bachelor are struggling with their meager bases and several other Oregon ski areas (Hoodoo and Willamette Pass, for example) lack enough snow to open. With this next storm cycle, I expect the situation to improve dramatically.
Enjoy the new snow this weekend... and feel free to report on the conditions in the comments of this blog post.
1 comment:
went today.... definitely need a boost. Sunday's my next shot looks good for then.
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