Low pressure systems out in the Gulf of Alaska and along the West Coast will bring moisture inland across the Western United States on Thanksgiving Day and into the weekend. Expect some decent snow accumulations from the higher Cascades and Sierra Nevada Mountains to the Tetons of Wyoming & Wasatch of Utah and also into Central Colorado’s mountains.

Click below to watch the loop of snow accumulation from Thanksgiving morning thru Saturday morning, November 22nd to 24th, 2018.

Read on for a breakdown of what’s causing the weather, and snow & water accumulations day by day. With a focus on snow accumulations in the Teton Mountains. Good news for opening day at the Jackson Hole Mountain Resort!

Weather Pattern for Thanksgiving Weekend Snow

Thanksgiving Day: A Southwesterly flow Thursday transitions to a strong Westerly flow aloft over the Western U.S Thursday night to Friday, eventually bending to more of a Northwesterly flow by Saturday.

For the Teton area of Wyoming, temps warm a bit early Thursday before cooling down later Thursday  with the first wave coming in from the Pacific.

Friday: It will warm enough Friday afternoon for some rain possibly mixing with snow at lower elevations in that strong westerly flow.

Saturday: Much colder temps coming Friday night into Saturday as the flow aloft turns to a more North-NW direction. Precip tapers off later Saturday and it looks drier & cooler for Sunday.

Happy Thanksgiving Powderhounds!

Posted by meteorologist Jim Woodmencey

A pretty good flow of Pacific moisture will be blowing inland across the Pacific Northwest this weekend, with progressively cooling temperatures (Nov. 3 & 4). Best shot of snow looks like it will come right at Northwest Wyoming Sunday & Sunday night.

Map below shows the nose of the jet stream at 250mb or 35,000-ft.  positioned just south of Jackson Hole. Winds of 100 mph+ over NW Wyoming.

Map below shows the 700mb temps and wind speeds, near the 10,000-ft. elevation. Should be cold enough for snow to valley floor Sunday also.

Map below shows Total Snowfall forecast from Friday evening thru Sunday night.

Post by meteorologist Jim Woodmencey

Jackson Hole received some new snow, down to the valley floor, last night (October 29th) with some decent accumulation up in the Teton Mountains. There was about a half an inch in the Town of Jackson and up to 4 inches reported in Kelly, Wyoming. Up at elevation, between the 8,000 & 10,000-ft. elevation, new snow accumulations ranged from 5 to 10 inches .

More snow is on the way for Halloween and into Thursday, November 1st.

Click image below for loop of snowfall accumulation between 2pm Tuesday and 2pm Thursday for the Rocky Mountains. Looking especially good for Central Colorado and Western Wyoming’s mountains. This model run shows around a foot of new snow likely for the higher elevations for these two locations.

Temperatures will stay cool initially, then warm through Thursday, which will bring some rain to lower elevations.

Find more maps on the Computer Models page

Post by meteorologist Jim Woodmencey

The next few days look to be colder and a bit snowy for parts of Wyoming, northern Utah and Colorado. Central Idaho’s mountains had theirs today for the most part, as a cold upper level Low-pressure moved over Idaho and then stats to sag south into Utah.

See snowfall accumulation forecasts below. Scroll down to see the 700mb maps (@10,000-ft. in the atmosphere) for flow direction, temps and RH the next 3 days.

Below is what the flow pattern is forecast to look like Wednesday, Thursday & Friday mornings. Position of Low-pressure favoring SW Wyoming, Northern Utah & Central Colorado for Snow.

Posted by meteorologist Jim Woodmencey

Winter Weather comes to Wyoming this weekend. With a relatively large and cold Low pressure system moving into the Rockies on Saturday, then hanging out over the Central Rockies Sunday into Monday. This will create an “upslope” flow pattern against the Continental Divide.

Initially, the Tetons will pick up a little new snowfall, as that weather system approaches from the West, perhaps a total of 4 to 6 inches at higher elevations, which is more than the models depicted below are forecasting.

Looks like the Wyoming Range, south of the Jackson Hole area will do best on the West side of the Divide, maybe picking up a foot of new snow.

Mountain Ranges along and East of the Continental Divide, the Wind River Range and Absaroka Mountains could see a foot or so of snow at higher elevations through Monday morning.

Posted by meteorologist Jim Woodmencey