3/12/23 Sunday 9:30 am
Excuse the later time for my post. Those of you who have been following for a while know that this is my least favorite Sunday of the year. The beginning of Day “Saving” Time. Why do we need to save daylight? It’s not the fact that I lose an hour of sleep, it is the fact that weather models don’t recognize Daylight Saving Time, so all of the model runs come out an hour later. I wish they would abandon this stupid idea, some people think that is being considered. Actually, the opposite is true, they are trying to phase out Daylight Standard Time and fully implement Daylight Saving Time.
Maybe, if we started referring to it by its original name people would reject it. In 1942 when they passed the law, Daylight Saving Time was referred to as “War Time”. Ok, enough of my rant… Onto the weather.
Travel Update
I have no new information on when 550 will open, opening the passes is determined by the crew foremen on the job, they make that determination based on what they are observing. Looking at the cams, it looks like they are making good progress, but there is a lot more highway not shown on the cams than what we can see. The best answer is, they will reopen the highway when they determine it is safe.
Today
If you are heading up into the higher elevations this morning, enjoy the sun while it lasts. The atmosphere is still saturated, and looking at the CAPE forecast it appears that there is a very good chance that snow showers will redevelop this afternoon.
If you are a new follower, CAPE stands for Convective Available Potential Energy. In short, it is a measure of the amount of energy available to produce rain or snow showers and potentially thunderstorms. It is something I talk more about in the late spring and summer but it is not usual for high CAPE values to be present in the fall, winter, and early spring as well.
This Week
Expect the same on Monday, although it looks like there is an additional piece of energy that will be moving through the area which will spark high-elevation snow showers. I am not ruling out a stray snow or rain shower developing in the lower and mid-elevations the next couple of days, I am just saying conditions will be more favorable in the higher elevations.
Tuesday we should be in between systems most of the day, but more showers would not surprise me before the next big system rolls in late Tuesday/early Wednesday. Another 1-3 feet of snow will be possible with this next system. It looks like it will be a little colder, so accumulating snow in the mid-elevations may or may not come into play.
At the moment, the models agree on snow showers redeveloping later today and Monday, and that the next big systems will arrive by Wednesday morning. They disagree on what happens on Tuesday, and how long the system will stick around on Thursday, and the snow levels. They also disagree on the timing of the next big system next weekend, did I forget to mention that one?
My next update will be on Monday. Thanks for following and supporting the site!