FOUS11 KWBC 110736
QPFHSD

Probabilistic Heavy Snow and Icing Discussion
NWS Weather Prediction Center College Park MD
336 AM EDT Sat Oct 11 2025

Valid 12Z Sat Oct 11 2025 - 12Z Tue Oct 14 2025

...Northern Rockies & WA Cascades...
Days 1-2...

Forecast remains on track for heavy snow to impact the high terrain
of the northern Rockies and WA Cascades beginning late tonight/early
Sunday morning and lasting through early next week, with certain
valley locations also potentially seeing the first snowflakes of
the season. Upper dynamics responsible for this October mountain
snow include a sharp upper trough crossing the northern Great Basin
today before taking on a negative tilt over the northern High
Plains on Sunday in tandem with a favorable duel jet structure.
This places the northern Rockies in an area of enhanced upper
divergence and lift, as well as crashing snow levels to allow for
precipitation to transition from rain to snow for areas above
5,000-6,000 ft. Snow levels are forecast to drop even lower on
Sunday across northwestern MT, where cold Canadian air noses
southward due to high pressure building to the north. This will
also allow for enhanced easterly upslope flow into the Lewis Range
and Glacier Natl Park region. Snowfall rates could peak at 1-2"/hr
in this part of northwest MT Sunday morning according to WPC's
Snowband Probability Tracker and make for difficult driving
conditions, especially at some of the major mountain passes in the
region.

Meanwhile, a separate deepening upper low will rotate southward
within the broad western U.S. trough by Sunday night over western
WA and provide additional lift along with a sinking cold front into
northern WA. Here, snow levels are expected to drop below 3,500ft
across the northern Cascades and contain light to moderate
snowfall at times into early Monday. WPC probabilities for greater
than 8" through Monday morning are high (70-905) across the Lewis,
Swan, and Mission ranges of northwest MT, as well as the northern
Cascades above 6,000ft. Probabilities for at least 8" of snow are
moderate (40-70%) across southwest MT and the northern Absarokas.


...Sierra Nevada...
Day 3...

By the end of day 3 (12Z Tuesday), the aforementioned upper low is
expected to rapidly drop south along the northern/central CA coast
and orient a corridor of 500-600 kg/m/s IVT (above the 99th
climatological percentile per the 12z NAEFS) orthogonal to the
central Sierra Nevada. There does remain some uncertainty regarding
exact track of the upper low and timing of heavy precipitation,
with the GFS and UKMET remaining on the slower end. Regardless, as
the plume of moisture approaches the central Sierra on Tuesday snow
levels are expected to remain around 6,000-7,000ft and snow ratios
should remain capped at around 8-10:1 given the moist fetch off
the Pacific. WPC probabilities for at least 8" of snow in the
central Sierra are currently moderate (30-60%) above 8,000ft through
the end of day 3, with more snow potential likely into the day 4
timeframe.


The probability of significant freezing rain across CONUS is less
than 10 percent.


Snell


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