Actually it’s a sunshine/bluebird/spring skiing alert!

 

I’ve been telling fellow skiers for a long time that Easter is one of my favorite ski days of the year, and it’s especially true when the weather is as good as it’s going to be this weekend for most of Oregon. Saturday and Sunday will be warm and, depending on where in Oregon you plan to plant yourself, sunny. Please remember to wear sunscreen and sunglasses as the now strong spring sun will be quick to burn.

 

Mountain temperatures will be climbing into the 40s, depending on elevation of course, and winds will generally be light. As usual with spring skiing, the best runs are in the early part of the day before the snow gets too soft and mushy.

 

There will be some variations to the weather around the state this weekend, as we’ll be living in the inverted world of an atmospheric Rex Block. That’s when high pressure is north of low pressure. Normally it’s the other way around if we’re talking about the upper air pattern. This means the farther south you travel; the more likely you are to see showers and thunderstorms.

 

I think we’ll see showers and storms along the Oregon-California border Saturday afternoon and evening. Storms may bubble as far north as central Oregon and Willamette Pass Saturday evening. Showers are likely to be more widespread in these areas Sunday as the upper level storm rolls into northern California.

 

Northwest and northeast Oregon should be spared all of this activity and remain mainly clear, and warmer than southern Oregon. Such is the way of the Rex Block.

There will be some new snowfall in the central and southern Oregon mountains Saturday night and Sunday, but you’ll need to get above about 7,000 feet to get to it.

 

Next week brings more blue sky, this time for the entire state, as high pressure builds in behind the California upper storm. This will continue until about mid-week, at which time southwesterly winds aloft will begin to push showers across all of Oregon at seasonally high snow levels, between 6,000 and 8,000 feet.

 

I’m not yet entirely convinced that we’re done with new snow. Long range forecast guidance has gone back and forth on the potential for a return to some colder air and lower snow levels in April. There’s a chance we’ll get snow levels back down around 3,000 feet for a day or two late next weekend, but we’ll have to wait and see on that.

 

In the mean-time, enjoy the Easter sunshine and spring skiing.

 

Happy Trails and Turns,


Matt Zaffino

Posted by: Matt Zaffino on 03/30/2013

March is STILL my favorite month for skiing. Yeah, I know it's been 60-degrees in the valleys and near 50-degrees on the mountain. Whatever. The days are long, the base is deep and we STILL keep getting fresh snow! We're about to, anyway.

 

That's the pre-amble, here's the... amble:

 

Snow levels in Oregon will drop dramatically tonight and be down around 4,000 feet Saturday morning on Mt. Hood, and around 5,000 feet for the rest of the state. By Saturday night, it should be snowing in Bend at 3,000 feet as the snow level continues to drop to about 2,000 feet on Mt. Hood by Sunday morning.

 

Snow will be flying Saturday at the resorts. We should see 2-4 inches new during the day Saturday on Mt. Hood, and I'm leaning more toward the four. Another 204 inches falls Saturday night into Sunday morning, so if the flakes fall right, we could be skiing 8 inches of fluff Sunday morning.

 

Sunday is my powder pick for the weekend, but Saturday will be good too. With all the warm weather lately, make sure you gear up for winter conditions in the mountains. Cold, snow, wind.

 

If you can ski Monday too, you'll be treated to some sunshine and calm winds, and mid-winter conditions. Except for the strong almost-spring sun. It's super important to remember sunscreen this time of year, now that the sun angle is higher, you can burn really fast and severely. Snow, especially new, freshly fallen highly coveted snow, reflects the suns burning rays onto your pasty-white winter face. Protect it. The sunshine continues into Tuesday.

 

Spring begins Wednesday at 4:02 am PDT. It should be dumping again by then. The snow level will rise ahead of the Wednesday storm to 5,000 or 6,000 feet, but by Wednesday afternoon it's back down to 3,000 feet. Major dumpage Wednesday night should lead to some brilliantly awesome first-full-day-of-spring skiing Thursday. Which is not to be confused with spring skiing. Because it'll definitely be mid-winter conditions. At this point, I'm thinking another 8 inches of fresh joyful powder in the Oregon Cascades Thursday.

 

After that, spring skiing conditions are likely to set in, at least for a while. Which simply means it's time to get corny. As in corn-snow bring it on. If you've read any of my ski-scribes, you know I'm more than capable of that. 

 

In the meantime enjoy March Madness, mountain-style!

 

Happy Trails and Turns,

 

Matt Zaffino

Posted by: Matt Zaffino on 03/15/2013