Weather
A late Wednesday night through Friday storm will hit Utah, bringing a meaningful refresh before a dry and milder weekend. Confidence is highest in that window, when timing is well aligned for widespread mountain snow and a colder finish into Friday. The northern and central ranges should do best, while southern Utah still picks up useful coverage. After the weekend, confidence falls off quickly because the next system timing and strength vary a lot more, so expect a lower-certainty outlook for Tuesday and beyond.
Wednesday stays dry and relatively mild, then snow spreads in from north to south late Wednesday night and ramps up Thursday. For this first storm, guidance is converging on arrival and exit timing and on a falling snow level trend, but diverging on intensity, especially in the Wasatch where one solution is much drier than the rest. Snow levels during active precipitation start around 6,500 to 8,000 feet, then drop to roughly 3,000 to 5,000 feet by Thursday night and Friday, so lower bases can start mixed before turning to snow. Snow quality should be mostly moderate to light, with SLRs largely 10-17 and occasional denser 8-10 periods early. West to northwest ridge gusts around 30-45 mph, with isolated higher gusts near 50 mph, will create periods of reduced visibility. By Friday night, favored northern totals are generally 10″-14″, Park City side around 5″-8″, and Eagle Point near 4″-6″.
Snow showers fade Friday afternoon into Friday night, and guidance then converges strongly on a quieter Saturday through Monday. Most areas trend dry in this stretch, with lighter winds than the storm period and temperatures rebounding from the teens and 20s °F during the storm to more frequent 30s °F and some low 40s °F by Sunday and Monday afternoons. For skiers, that supports better soft-snow conditions Friday morning, then firmer starts and progressively softer daytime snow over the weekend as solar input returns. New snow opportunities are limited in this period, so quality will depend more on overnight refreeze and aspect than fresh accumulation.
Confidence drops from Tuesday onward as the next wave shows clear divergence in timing, intensity, snow levels, and wind impacts. AIFS and GDPS are the wetter Tuesday to early Wednesday scenarios, while GFS and ICON are lighter, and ECMWF shifts more of its meaningful snow signal later toward Thursday into Friday. The conservative expectation is a smaller refresh of about 1″-6″ for many northern and central Utah resorts, with Eagle Point closer to 0″-4″; a wetter outcome could push favored northern terrain closer to 6″-10″. If this next wave verifies, snow quality likely starts denser with many SLRs near 8-13 before improving somewhat as colder air follows. Beyond that, the broader pattern signal favors relatively milder Utah temperatures with less consistent storm coverage late in the period.
Resort Forecast Totals (Wed Mar 04 – Fri Mar 06)
- Snowbird – 10″-14″
- Alta – 10″-14″
- Powder Mountain – 10″-13″
- Solitude – 9″-12″
- Brighton – 7″-10″
- Park City – 5″-8″
- Beaver Mountain – 5″-7″
- Eagle Point – 4″-6″
- Deer Valley – 4″-5″
