After this cooler & wetter interlude, there are once again strong signals than anomalous April warmth will dominate the West for much of rest of April. It won't be as extreme as March, relatively speaking, but return of warmth & dryness will likely allow rapid snowmelt to resume.
But from broader snowpack perspective, it's simply too little, too late. This week's cooler temperatures & mountain precipitation will allow snow water equivalent to flatline or even tick upward a few percentage points. But SWE will generally remain near or below record lows.
Overall, this is quite a welcomed reprieve from recent record-shattering heat and near-record March dryness. The Upper Colorado basin will see similarly more favorable conditions over next few days, as well. This precipitation will re-moisten mountain soils, and bolster runoff.
A second, colder wave of precipitation is likely later today, and a few more thunderstorms are possible at lower elevations (along with somewhat lower elevation snowfall in the mountains, maybe including a couple inches down to ~Lake Tahoe level).
Well, I do have some good news to report: yesterday's weather system "overperformed" somewhat in NorCal! Convective activity and even some stronger thunderstorms developed in the unusually warm/moist/unstable airmass, bringing some more widespread downpours than expected.
For more details, check out my WeatherWest.com blog post from this past weekend or tomorrow's YouTube livestream (3/31 at 2pm PT):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kk55DnUZiqM
Unprecedented decline in Western U.S. snowpack after record heat, though brief reprieve approaches
A reminder that the long-awaited pattern change, featuring *much* cooler temperatures & some precipitation (mainly north & in higher mountains), will arrive by Tue. This won't meaningfully ameliorate the now-historic low snowpack conditions, but it sure will be nice for a change!
Although we are, finally, nearing the end of this bonkers March heatwave, it is *still* not over yet: temperatures have resurged once again across wide swath from CA's Pacific coast eastward to Central Plains, with widespread daily to monthly record highs occurring yet again. ðŸ«
New post on Weather West: As historic March heatwave finally fades, a brief cooler/wetter interlude will occur across the U.S. West in early April before warmth & dryness likely return. Also: a deeper dive into now record-low Western snowpack.
https://weatherwest.com/archives/43769
As historic March heatwave finally fades, a brief cooler/wetter interlude will occur across the U.S. West in early April before warmth & dryness likely return - Weather West
March 28, 2026 - Daniel Swain - Unprecedented March heatwave among most anomalous ever observed, in any month, the American Southwest Well, it sure has been...quite a month. Meteorologically speaking, March 2026 will go down in the record books as the warmest March on record for at least a third, and possibly half or more, of the continental United States. But even #
On Tuesday, Mar 31 at 2 PM PT, I'll discuss the "record shattering" heat that occurred in March and the unprecedented collapse of Western snowpack it caused near what would normally be the seasonal peak. Plus: a brief cooler and wetter reprieve to come!
https://www.youtube.com/live/kk55DnUZiqM
Unprecedented decline in Western U.S. snowpack after record heat, though brief reprieve approaches
