Mammoth Mountain reports storm total 64 to 92 inches!

Some areas on Mammoth Mountain approaching a 20 foot base!


The Dweebs received reports from locals of the best powder of the year so far as the top of Mammoth Mountain opened Saturday. The weather maps this morning indicated a short wave ridge over the area  keeping us precipitation free today. Crystal clear ultra blue skies this morning were expected to cloud up somewhat later today as there was enough cold unstable air aloft for this reason. High temps today in town were expected to be near 30 degrees with lows upwards to the mid 30s on Washington’s Birthday.

The next weather system appears to be developing far enough west off shore to keep most of its precip out of our area. Although there will be plenty of cloudiness, and some possible snow showers Monday night or early Tuesday Am…..The main effect of this upper low will be clouds and some increase in wind over the crest. Temperatures early next week will remain below normal in this NNW flow aloft upper air pattern.

Longer Range:

The longer range looks more interesting. Last nights 00z global models had significant differences. The Canadian and American GFS has a very cold plunging upper trof that will bring mainly light to moderate amounts of snowfall to the Eastern Sierra Thursday/Friday. The European on the other hands forms a closed low up off the coast of the Pacific Northwest which allows the upper pattern to bow out off shore and tap subtropical moisture from under the upper ridge north of Hawaii. The latter pattern is slower and wetter pattern while the former pattern is colder and dryer.  The ensemble’s favor the colder dryer scenario at this time. However, the very new 12z Sunday GFS run just took a turn to follow a match more like the European. Whether this works out is still unknown at this time as this is quite a change from the number of GFS runs showing the former colder dryer scenario.

Stay Tuned, the Dweebs have you covered!………………………………..:-)

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Disclaimer: I have been a hobbyist meteorologist for over 30 years here in the Mammoth area and I do this for my personal enjoyment. The National Weather Service saves lives every day . . . I do not. When making important planning decisions please use information provided by the National Weather Service as they are the most knowledgeable and accurate information source available today.