Hello skiers,

A warm, moist atmospheric river (AR) is aimed at the Cascades for the next 24-36 hrs. The AR will initially produce snow, then turn to heavy rain for much of Friday with strong winds. But in the end, more snow will fall Saturday as the AR weakens and moves south.

This Thursday evening there is cold air in the Cascades. Snow is piling up on all ski slopes, at least for a short time. There will be 2-6 new snow by midnight. Then after midnight and early Friday morning, the cold air gets scoured out by the invading AR. The snow levels will soar to 7,000 feet with rain falling on the ski slopes. The rain will melt part of the very shallow early season snowpack
and consolidate the rest of the snow into a strong snow base. The thin snow cover on the lower slopes is the most vulnerable to melt as the rain falls on snow for much of Friday.

Expect heavy rain in the Cascades (2-5) from early Friday morning until midnight Friday night. At that point the AR moves south, dragging in cold air behind it. That means snow levels will plunge by early Saturday morning with new snow on all slopes (2-4) and more snow to come.

On Saturday and beyond there is high forecast confidence of a very cold pattern for early November. Expect snow showers (SL 2,000 ft) on all ski slopes for Saturday. Snowfall will be increasing on Sunday with a new storm. Another 5-10 is possible. The cold will continue next week with more Cascade snow later in the week.

Bundle up its going to be chilly here in the lowlands.

We are on our way.

His Excellency - The Grand Poobah of Powder

Larry Schick
Meteorololgist

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Announcements

This season the powder alert will have additional help from Andrea Hamilton and Michael Fagin. Andrea is a long-time ski instructor at the Summit and known in the ski marketing, especially at Sturtevants. Michael has worked in weather forecasting consulting for major expeditions worldwide including Mt Everest. Plus he forecasted for the Seattle Mountaineers Club and scramble leaders. Youll enjoy additional NW snow and ski perspectives with these folks helping out.