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Snow Stays in Northern Tiers and High Elevations

An early-season type of weather pattern across North America will bring rain and snow due to a mix of warm and cold air. In the Northwest, this will feature high snow levels and light to moderate wet snow. In the Rockies, colder air and light snow are likely, with optimistic signs for more snow in the extended forecast.

In the Midwest and Northeast, a storm on Wednesday will bring colder air on Thanksgiving and into the holiday weekend, with a favorable lake effect snow pattern setting up. This cold air mass will also bring favorable snowmaking conditions, which will allow many resorts to build their bases.

The OpenSnow WetBulb or snowmaking charts are fun to see where resorts can make snow! Check out the WetBulb air temperature forecast showing where snowmaking will be favorable at Giants Ridge, Snowshoe, and  Killington from Monday, November 24 through Friday, November 28.

This cold air mass will primarily affect the northern tiers of the US and bring the most favorable man-made and natural snow conditions to northern areas and near the Great Lakes. In the Northwest, the high snow levels will be the main story in this forecast, with colder air and light to moderate snow affecting the interior West and southern Rockies.

Forecast for Monday (Nov 24):

The storm in the Northwest will swing further south to start the week, with widespread light snow through southern Alberta into the Pacific Northwest and the northern Rockies. Snow will be heaviest in Alberta and Montana, with light snow accumulations elsewhere. It has been a dry start to the snow season in the US, so we will take what we can get!

The storm in the Southwest will weaken, with a few snow showers continuing in Colorado with minimal snow accumulations. The Northeast will continue to see northwest flow, bringing scattered snow showers to the higher terrain.

Forecast for Tuesday (Nov 25):

Light and scattered snow showers will continue across the Rockies with minimal impacts. The highest elevations could squeeze out several inches of snow, but this will mainly occur in Colorado. This storm will swing into the Upper Midwest and intensify, bringing backside snow. This storm will be the start of changes to come in the Midwest to the Northeast through this forecast.

Another storm will impact British Columbia and the PNW, but have much warmer air associated with southwesterly moisture transport. This will raise snow levels significantly, with light snow for the highest elevations.

Forecast for Wednesday (Nov 26):

Both storms in the Northwest and Northeast will strengthen and bring more snow. In the Northeast, the storm will lift into Quebec and bring more backside snow with cold air. This will develop lake effect snow, which will become widespread in the coming days. Out ahead of the storm, warm air and rain are likely through the Northeast.

The storm in the Northwest will continue to bring warm air and precipitation, as snow levels stay high through the Cascades. Colder air in the northern to central Rockies will bring light snow accumulations.

Forecast for Thursday (Nov 27):

The storm in the Northeast will pass through and bring much colder air with northwest flow due to a strong cold front. This will develop widespread lake effect snow downwind of the Great Lakes with localized heavy bands bringing more than 6 inches of snow.

The warm storm track will continue through the Northwest as another storm develops. This will keep snow levels high through British Columbia, Alberta, Washington, and Oregon. Colder air in the interior West will continue to bring light snow to Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming. 

Forecast for Friday (Nov 28):

Lake effect snow will continue across the Midwest and Northeast, with the heaviest snow bands bringing a foot or more of snow by Friday. Cold air will allow snowmaking to be in full swing across the regions.

The Northwest storm will move inland and bring colder air behind it. This will develop scattered and light snow showers, with snow levels finally lowering. Overall, minimal impacts are expected, but any snow is good snow!

Outlook for Sat (Nov 29) to Thu (Dec 4):

There is a blocking-type weather pattern expected to impact the extended forecast, which will primarily benefit the Southwest, Upper Midwest, and into Northern New England. A large upper-level ridge and associated high-pressure system will develop across the northern Pacific Ocean.

This ridge will cause a northerly storm track into Alaska and then down the Canadian Rockies into the US, bringing widespread cold air. This storm track will cause the storms to be relatively weak with light precipitation and snow, then potentially restrengthen in the Southwest and southern Rockies as cutoff lows.

The storm track will then favor these storms or cutoff lows to move across the Central US and into the Northeast. This type of storm track will keep cold air on the north side with the highest chances of snow through northern areas of the Upper Midwest and New England.

Thanks so much for reading! Next update on Wednesday (November 26).

Zach Butler

NEW: 11-15 Day Forecasts

You can now view detailed 11-15 day forecasts for any location on Earth across any platform in OpenSnow.

To extend our forecasts out to 11-15 days, we process data from additional models, including the European AI (AIFS Ensemble), American AI (GFS Graphcast), and American Ensemble (GEFS).

This ensures that we present a multi-model approach and that you are not misled by the extended forecast from a single model.

Getting Started

1. Go to Favorites or any location screen.
2. Scroll down under "Weather" or "Snow Summary".
3. View extended forecasts out to 15 days.

Please note that 11-15 day forecasts will move to our new Premium plan soon.

View: 11-15 Day Forecasts