JACKSON, Wyo. — The past week featured a major storm cycle that brought heavy snow to Jackson Hole and the Teton Mountains. Snow totals from Wednesday, February 5 through Saturday, February 8 ranged from 38 to 41 inches at Jackson Hole Mountain Resort’s upper mountain above 9,000 feet. Across the lower elevations, snow totals ranged from 8.5 inches in the town of Jackson to 14 inches at Snow King to 23.5 inches in Teton Village.
The town of Jackson has already received 16.3 inches of snow for the month of February. The average total snowfall for the month of February is 14.3 inches, so the town of Jackson has already exceeded its monthly snowfall average just 10 days into the month of February.
On the heels of a huge snow month in January, current snowpack in the Teton and Gros Ventre Mountains is 114 percent of average as of February 10. Much of the Western U.S. is now near or above average in terms of snowpack as well, except for California where the pattern has been less favorable in recent weeks and snow depths have fallen below average.
For the upcoming week, a relatively quiet pattern can be expected with a mix of sun, clouds, and occasional light snow. Scattered snow showers on Monday afternoon will give way to dry conditions and mostly clear skies from Monday night through most of the day Tuesday.
Another weak disturbance will then arrive on Tuesday evening, bringing light snow to the area through Wednesday morning. This will not be a powder day type of system for skiers, nor will it cause significant travel issues, but it could offer a couple of inches of higher elevation snow to freshen up the slopes.
Drier weather will then return from Wednesday afternoon through Thursday morning, before a couple of disturbances bring more snow to the area on Thursday afternoon and again on Friday. Snowfall on Thursday should be light, while Friday’s system could produce up to several inches across the higher elevations of the Tetons if everything comes together well.
While snowfall through the workweek will mostly be on the lighter side, except for maybe Friday, a stronger storm will be possible on Saturday night and Sunday with good skiing conditions likely for the holiday weekend.
The model image below shows a cold and powerful trough of low pressure dropping in from the northwest early Sunday morning.
For now, it looks like Saturday afternoon through Sunday afternoon will offer the main window for snowfall across the area, but of course, the timing and details could change since this storm is almost a week away. Be sure to stay tuned to Buckrail’s Daily Weather Report for additional updates later this week regarding the President’s Day weekend pattern.
Beyond the Saturday-Sunday storm, we could see a trailing disturbance arrive next Monday (President’s Day) with additional snow possible. Holiday weekend skiers could be in for a powder day or two based on current projections.
Temperatures over the next week are generally going to be running a little bit colder than average, but not excessively so. Monday night is the only night when subzero temperatures are expected at this time, with relatively milder nighttime lows expected for the remainder of the week since extended periods of clear skies are unlikely. The chart below shows the average projected temperatures from several weather models for Jackson over the next 10 days.
