Mt Baker Nabs 84 Inches In 11 Days

This winter has been nothing short of a big turnaround for the Cascades. The winter started with snow only to be followed by rain. In December and January, locals were quoted with "Worst season they can remember"

March Madness turned on big time with 84 inches from sources at the Ski Resort this month. Additonal significant snowfall will fall through Tuesday night.

The central Cascades closer to Stevens Pass benefited from earlier storms this season and a few classic cold westerly flow Convergence Zones in February (Moist air wrapping around the Puget Sound and rising over the central Cascades). According to the National Weather Service in Seattle, areas on the east side of Stevens Pass are at 86% of normal (SWE). This would be the amount of water if melted in the current snowpack. We are still below normal at most if not all ski areas.

Telemetry sites near the Mt Baker Ski area are showing 22-30 inches of water YTD and only 68% of normal. Those numbers should rise in the next few days, but it will take several large storms to get them closer to normal. They essentially went from 0 to hero in a short period (February-March).

The weather models bring a 3rd and final wave of heavy snowfall into the Cascades on Monday evening through Tuesday. Totals from this storm will range from 12-20 inches near Mt Baker. As opposed to the last few days, we expect to see higher totals also falling near Stevens Pass, Crystal, and even the northern Cascades of Oregon. Winds will be very strong early Monday evening prior to some colder air working in on Tuesday morning (Higher quality pow).

Winds from the SW initially favoring the northern Cascades (Mt Baker) will veer more westerly on Tuesday morning. This should provide a window of heavy snowfall for the Central and Southern Cascades (7-14 inches).