Snow on the Horizon

Like this morning, we're looking at a few sunny days and cold nights through mid-week.  Then, the weather pattern will change.  This pattern will be more "traditional" for our area, so the impacts are more likely to be predictable.

The first Pacific wave will reach our area on Thursday night.  When this storm hits our current cold and dry air mass, the resulting precipitation will almost assuredly be in the form of snow.  The problem is, the first wave to make landfall is usually weak.  So snowfall amounts are generally light.  In fact, some of the computer forecasts don't bring any precipitation at all with this first wave.  Here's an example snowfall forecast from one computer, for Thursday night and Friday morning.

A second wave will come in right on the heels of the first wave.  Temperatures will be warming, so the snow will be heavier.  Here's a couple of example forecasts for snowfall amounts.  Remember, these are just a couple of guesses at this point.  A lot could still change.

As we go farther into next week, temperatures will continue to warm.  This means increasing chances of rain and decreasing chances of snow.  You can see this in the graph below.  The blue line (snow chances) is highest initially, but the green line (rain chances) increases toward the end of the forecast.