Weather
Utah turns active Tuesday night through Friday with a warm first wave, a colder second push, and the best ski conditions building late Thursday into Friday. Confidence is highest from Tuesday night through Friday afternoon, when guidance lines up on widespread mountain precipitation, rising then sharply falling snow levels, and a meaningful temperature drop behind the late-week front. The upper Cottonwoods are favored for about 20"-30" in that stretch, with Park City closer to 14"-20" because the first round comes in warmer. After that, the weekend through most of next week trends quieter, sunnier, and steadily milder with only a weak late-period refresher signal.
The first storm arrives Tuesday evening and peaks overnight through Wednesday morning with a warm profile that matters most on the lower mountain. Guidance is converging on the timing of this first push but still diverges on intensity, especially at lower elevations, with the snow level generally bouncing between 7,500 and 9,000 feet before easing toward 7,500-8,000 feet by Wednesday. That should keep the best accumulation on upper-mountain terrain, while Park City-side lower slopes flirt with rain or heavy mixed snow early. Snow quality looks dense to fair, with ratios mostly around 7:1 to 10:1 at Park City and 9:1 to 12:1 in the Cottonwoods. Through Wednesday, the open Wasatch resorts should pick up roughly 6"-14", with the deepest snow above 9,000 feet.
A brief relative lull Wednesday evening is followed by a colder, stronger round from late Wednesday night through Friday morning, and that is the better ski storm. Guidance is fairly well aligned on the colder timing, the sharp drop in snow levels from roughly 7,500-8,500 feet Thursday morning to near 3,000-5,000 feet by Friday, and ridge-top gusts in the 40-55 mph range, though it still diverges on how long the backside snow hangs on Friday. Ratios improve as the air mass cools, starting near 10:1 to 13:1 Thursday and climbing into the 14:1 to 18:1 range by late Thursday night and Friday for drier, better-quality snow. This period should add another 10"-18" in the upper Cottonwoods, around 8"-12" near Park City, and lighter leftovers in southern Utah, with Friday morning offering the best combination of fresh snow and colder surfaces at the open high-elevation resorts.
From Friday afternoon through early next week, the storm cycle shuts down and conditions settle into a dry rebound. Guidance converges on diminishing snow, easing winds, and a warming trend for Saturday through at least Tuesday, so expect softer spring conditions each afternoon after a cold Friday start in the teens and 20s at upper elevations. The broader signal after that still favors warmer-than-normal weather, but model agreement drops later next week on whether a weak disturbance can clip northern Utah around Thursday or Friday. At this point that extended signal looks minor, with anything beyond Friday’s storm limited to no more than a light 1" type refresher if it materializes at all.
Resort Forecast Totals (Tue Mar 31 – Fri Apr 03)
- Alta – 23"-32"
- Snowbird – 22"-31"
- Brighton – 20"-28"
- Solitude – 19"-27"
- Powder Mountain – 15"-21"
- Park City – 14"-20"
- Eagle Point – 15"-20"
- Beaver Mountain – 11"-16"
- Deer Valley – 10"-14"
