No Snow in Sight...

Overview

Not much has really changed for us regarding our outlook for cooler weather this week and an extended stubborn blocking ridge through the first half, possibly first two thirds or longer of March.

The polar vortex is forecasted to split and sweep very cold weather across the country, before transitioning back to likely one final stretch, bringing very cold weather out east and a compensatory ridge out west again...

Cooler next few days...

Today and tomorrow, an inside slider type trough will amplify into the great basin bringing cold snow chances to Utah / Nevada, and much colder temperatures to the eastern sierra with most places expected to remain completely dry or receive a dusting. Isolated pockets could receive up to 1".

Model showing an inside slider trough amplifying into the Great Basin with cold snow chances for Utah and Nevada

This setup will bring very strong and cold northerly wind for us from Thurs into Saturday.

P.s., you can see the wind speed and direction for Mammoth mtn on the homepage of this site, or for any location by using the "Point Forecast" tool in the upper right hand corner of the Weather Map page:

Screenshot of the Eastside Weather point forecast tool on the interactive weather map page

Overnight temps in the teens for Mammoth Lakes, with highs in the 30s at 8k, and highs in the 20s at 10k. These colder temps will be relatively short lived as Mammoth will likely reach mid 50s by early next week again....

Stubborn block!

Extended 500mb height anomaly forecast showing a stubborn blocking ridge persisting for 15 or more days

I've been driving home the point that a long term stubborn block is setting up, and it really doesn't look to be going anywhere for the next 15 days+....

Wish I had better news, but once again, it is all thanks to the polar vortex, as Judah Cohen discusses in this week's blog.

The takeaway for us eastsiders is that the polar vortex will briefly split and bring colder temperatures sweeping across the country, before transitioning back to a polar vortex stretch (which it has been doing most of the winter). This will result in very cold temps once again out east and a compensatory ridge out west with us under a heatwave.

In fact, in the above 500mb height anomaly graphic, the ridge appears to be farther east than previously modeled, and more directly over us. This means we will be on the warmer side as well.

Could be til last 10 days of March or later til we see our window of opportunity open back up. Wish I had better news!