Widespread snow unfolds across Northwest, Rockies
A potent storm has started a big change for many in the western United States, bringing cold air and the first accumulating snow of the season for many spots.
In recent days, much of the Northwest and northern Rockies have felt more like late summer rather than autumn. This past Thursday, temperatures reached the 70s Fahrenheit in Spokane, Washington and soared to around 80 degrees in cities like Bend, Oregon, and Reno, Nevada, temperatures that are more than 15 degrees above normal for October.
Following the warmth, chill has swept the area.
The arrival of this storm sent temperatures plunging for the start of the past weekend across the Northwest. High temperatures were in the 40s and 50s through Sunday. Conditions deteriorated Saturday night and, by Sunday morning, snow stretched from Canada to Utah and Colorado.
"The storm is forecast to strengthen early week, allowing for snow to fill in and for strong winds to develop," said AccuWeather Meteorologist Brandon Buckingham.
As colder air packed with this moisture from the Pacific rolls southeastward over the Rockies and helps to fuel the storm over the Plains, freezing levels will lower over the mountainous terrain. This drop in temperature will allow rain to change to snow over the ridges and peaks and intermediate elevations through Monday.
As of Sunday evening, the highest snow total came from the mountains around Alta, Utah, which recorded 20 inches. Several other mountain locations reported over a foot of snow including Brighton, Utah, and Big Sky, Montana.
Several inches of snow is expected to be widespread from the Canadian Rockies to as far east as North Dakota and as far south as the Colorado-New Mexico border.
A general 6-12 inches of snow is expected across the region, with an AccuWeather Local StormMax™ 30 inches possible in portions of the Wasatch in Utah, the Rockies in Colorado, the Tetons in Wyoming and the Sawtooth Range in Idaho.
The stormy weather will come with some notable hazards, especially for travel. Motorists should expect delays along with the possibility of road closures, including portions of interstates 70, 80, 90 and 94 and possibly along a stretch of Canada's Highway 1 in the provinces of Manitoba and Saskatchewan due to the snow.
This could be especially true across the lower elevations of the northern Plains. While the amount of snow may be limited, a narrow area of heavy snow is likely. Blizzard conditions may occur in a part of this region where high winds combine with snow to reduce the visibility to 1/4 mile or less.
Travel may even be slowed by heavier downpours in the lower elevations, creating either wind-driven rain or reduced visibility.
Whether in the form of rain or snow, the increased precipitation will come as a benefit for many across the region. The surge of moisture is likely to help the drought conditions. All of Washington, Oregon and Idaho are abnormally dry, and more than 50% of each state is in at least a moderate drought, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor.
As the storm moves eastward it will bring a separate threat in the form of severe thunderstorms, centered over Texas on Monday and moving into the Southeast on Tuesday.
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