Weather
Utah flips from summer-like wind and warmth on Tuesday to a cooler, unsettled stretch with modest midweek snow and another less certain storm opportunity this weekend. Exposed upper-mountain terrain should be rough in the prefrontal southwest wind Tuesday, then conditions improve for skiing once colder air settles in Wednesday and Thursday. The best on-snow payoff is in the Cottonwoods, where the open terrain stays cold enough for all snow, while most other Utah resorts are already closed and later-week opportunities carry much more uncertainty.
Confidence is highest from Wednesday midday through Thursday evening, when the models converge on a frontal passage followed by periods of mountain snow. Tuesday stays very mild, with many upper-mountain temperatures climbing into the 40s to low 50s and exposed gusts pushing 40-60 mph before the front. Snow levels then fall from around 7,000 feet toward 6,000-6,500 feet, and the guidance is reasonably well aligned on both the cooling trend and winds easing behind the front. Snow quality looks fair to good rather than blower, with SLRs mostly in the 10-13 range, and the most likely snowfall by Thursday evening is 3-7 inches in the open Cottonwoods and 5-8 inches across the favored northern higher terrain.
Friday looks quieter, then the next wave most likely arrives late Saturday and carries into Sunday night, but this is where the models start diverging on timing, snowfall intensity, snow levels, and even wind impacts. The common signal is for another shot of mountain snow, especially in northern Utah, but one guidance camp is much drier while another is much snowier. Snow levels also look a bit higher than midweek, mostly around 6,500-7,500 feet in the north and closer to 7,500-8,000 feet farther south before lowering late, so the snow should run denser, with SLRs mainly in the 9-12 range and some 12-14 ratios showing up late in the storm. The most realistic early take is another 5-10 inches for the Cottonwoods, with smaller totals farther south, but that range can still shift meaningfully over the next couple of days.
After Monday, confidence drops quickly because the models no longer agree on whether Utah gets another midweek wave, a later-week wave, or just scattered leftovers between systems. The broader pattern still favors temperatures running cooler than early this week and precipitation staying more active than normal into early May, so snow chances should keep resurfacing even if no single storm is locked in yet. With most Utah areas already closed, the practical ski focus remains Alta, Snowbird, and Brighton whenever these colder windows line up.
Resort Forecast Totals (Wed Apr 22 – Thu Apr 23)
- Powder Mountain – 5-8 inches
- Alta – 5-7 inches
- Beaver Mountain – 5-7 inches
- Snowbird – 5-7 inches
- Solitude – 4-6 inches
- Brighton – 3-5 inches
- Park City – 2-3 inches
- Deer Valley – 1-2 inches
- Eagle Point – 0-1 inches
