Wednesday, Feb. 29th, 2012……………A nice combination of features on the weather maps today, all lining up to become a good dump-producer for Jackson Hole & the Tetons today. And then Swinging south over Utah and Colorado tonight & Thursday.
Low pressure center at the surface over the Northwestern US today, this will be moving across the Rockies in two pieces, with one piece passing by to the North of Jackson Hole, in Montana ( a really good position for Northwest Wyoming’s mountains). The second piece of that Low pressure center will be dropping south over the Utah/Colorado border area.
There is also a cold front that will be plowing through this afternoon, adding some extra boost to the weather system, and intensifying the snowfall over the Tetons and eventually over parts of Utah & Colorado’s mountains.
All of that stuff east moves into the Plains on Friday.
Surface Map below left, Jet Stream Map below right……….
Upper Level Trof of Low pressure is also in a good position, with a nose of the jet stream also moving overhead today, along with a good diverging West to SW flow out ahead of the Trof. To top it off with a little extra sauce, there is also a strong Northwest flow on the backside of this Trof, which is providing an ample supply of cold air aloft (along with Pacific moisture) to keep things unstable.
That’s the technical jibberish…. But it all translates into a big dump to skiers.
You can check out the newest 3-Day Surface Maps and Jet Stream Forecast Maps on the USA Forecasts Page on www.mountainweather.com
I just added a new look and content to that page today. Check it all out. And while you are there, have a look at the Satellite & Radar page too, pretty good looking right now!
Graphics from NWS & UCAR.
Posted by meteorologist Jim Woodmencey