New Snow This Week... More Headed to the Atlas?

This week we saw our first snow below 2000 meters, with a healthier snowpack growing in the high alpine.

Snowfall Saturday in Taouraout at 1800m, near the base of Jbel Ayachi

We will likely will see a weak system move through much of the Atlas late next week again. The GFS and ECMWF seem to be in fairly good agreement about this. As things get closer we can start thinking about precipitation totals, but this far out it's anyone's guess.

All models are showing a weak system over Morocco late next week.

ECMWF 10 day snowfall totals. In this scenario the totals would likely be much higher in the Atlas ski terrain.

Beyond that the models are split with the GFS showing a ridge building over Spain and Portugal, while the ECMWF is showing a strong trough bulging southward and delivering an epic dump somewhere around the 29th-31st. The snow levels look really low with this one, possibly opening the door to a lot of lines that don't usually have skinnable approches. Lets pray for the latter!

The ECMWF shows a massive trough stretching south unlike any we've seen this season around the 29th

If this plays out, we'll likely be headed into February with an above average snowpack, especially from Mgoun north to Ayachi and Bouiblane, and the door could stay open for more storms as we head into peak season. That said, it would take several more huge storms to significantly improve reservoir levels this Spring. I personally will be back in Morocco in February. Let's keep our fingers crossed we indeed get some big storms before then! Until next week!

- Haroun AlRabaja