Weather
The Northern Rockies are lined up for a warm-to-cool transition storm cycle from Monday night through Friday, with the most dependable resort snow focused in central Idaho, the Tetons, and parts of the Canadian Rockies before confidence drops sharply this weekend into early next week. Guidance is tightly clustered on storm timing through Friday but shows meaningful spread in snowfall intensity from zone to zone, especially in the Tetons and interior Idaho. Within the higher-confidence window, the biggest multi-day totals cluster in the 14″-20″ range at favored resorts, while several southern and lower-elevation areas stay closer to single digits. After Friday night, outcomes range from mostly minor refreshes to a broader mountain event, so details are best treated as early signal rather than a lock.
Monday night through Wednesday (February 23-25) is the primary storm cycle, and the individual models are converging on timing but diverging on intensity across the southern half of the region. Snow spreads in Monday night, peaks Tuesday into early Wednesday, then tapers with frontal passage. Snow levels stay relatively high in Idaho and western Wyoming for part of this wave, generally around 5,500 to 7,000 feet with periods where lower-mountain terrain mixes with rain, while farther north they are much lower (roughly 1,500 to 3,500 feet), supporting cleaner all-snow outcomes. Snow quality reflects that split: southern SLRs are mostly around 7:1 to 10:1 (dense to heavy), while northern resorts are more often 12:1 to 16:1 (fair to fluffy). Winds also become a real factor, with widespread ridgeline gusts in the 35 to 55 mph range Tuesday night into Wednesday. This wave supports broad resort snowfall on the order of 8″-18″ in the best southern targets and lighter but still useful accumulations farther north.
Thursday into Friday (February 26-27) brings a colder secondary surge, with the individual models generally converging on placement over the northern tier but diverging on how much reaches southern Idaho and southwest Montana. This round favors the Canadian Rockies and interior British Columbia-facing terrain, where colder profiles and SLRs mostly around 12:1 to 18:1 support better-quality snow than the first storm. Snow levels trend lower region-wide, commonly near 1,000 to 3,000 feet north and closer to 3,500 to 5,000 feet farther south, with several southern resorts seeing only limited additional accumulation. Winds stay breezy to windy, with many exposed areas still seeing gusts around 30 to 45 mph before gradually easing. Most favored northern resorts pick up another 7″-12″, while many southern zones are closer to little new snow or only a minor top-off.
From Saturday into next week, the individual models diverge strongly on timing, intensity, snow levels, and wind impacts, so confidence drops to low and only broad outcomes are appropriate. One solution family keeps a wetter track and could produce a meaningful Tetons-centered reload, while other solutions are much drier and lighter across most of the region. For planning, think broad possibilities from near-zero new snow in some areas to a potential 12″-24″ in favored high terrain if the wetter scenario verifies. The larger-scale pattern still leans warmer than normal overall, with the northern Rockies more likely to catch periodic precipitation opportunities than the far southern part of the region, so expect intermittent mountain refreshes but limited confidence in exact day-by-day details beyond Friday night.
Resort Forecast Totals (Mon 2/23-Sat 2/28)
- Brundage – 14″-20″
- Grand Targhee – 13″-18″
- Banff Sunshine – 12″-18″
- Jackson Hole – 13″-18″
- Lake Louise – 11″-18″
- Revelstoke – 11″-17″
- Whitefish Mountain – 9″-13″
- Schweitzer – 9″-12″
- Mount Norquay – 7″-11″
- Tamarack – 8″-10″
- Big White – 7″-10″
- Bogus Basin – 6″-9″
- RED Mountain – 5″-7″
- Bridger Bowl – 4″-6″
- Sun Valley – 4″-6″
- Big Sky – 3″-5″
