Alta Ski Area To End Season With Powder Day, 5-16 Inches Forecasted for Utah

A storm in the northern Rockies is already underway and will continue through Friday, April 24, 2026, but the best snow is falling at resorts that are closed or only partially operating.

Grand Targhee (closed), Jackson Hole (closed), and Big Sky still hold the strongest short-term totals, while the open Idaho hills mostly get a light refresh with gusty wind and mixed quality.

After a brief break from Friday into Saturday, the focus shifts decisively to Utah. Confidence is strongest from Thursday, April 23, through Tuesday afternoon, April 28, but the cleanest chase setup arrives from Saturday night into Monday when the Cottonwoods should stack up the best mix of depth and ski quality.

Expect a denser first push Sunday as snow levels climb into the 7000-8500 foot range, then better quality snow Sunday night into Monday as the storm cools and winds ease.

Ski Resort Snowfall Totals for April 23-28, 2026

• Deer Valley (closed): 5-8 inches
• Park City (closed): 6-9 inches
• Jackson Hole (closed): 7-10 inches
• Big Sky (closing April 26): 8-10 inches
• Solitude (closed): 7-11 inches
• Brighton: 9-14 inches
• Eagle Point (closed): 9-14 inches
• Grand Targhee (closed): 11-15 inches
• Snowbird: 9-15 inches
• Alta Ski Area (closing April 26): 10-16 inches

Storm Timing and Discussion

The current northern Rockies wave continues to pulse through Friday. Guidance is converging on the broad timing, low snow levels, and continued wind, but it still spreads a bit on where the heaviest bands set up and how hard they hit. That keeps the Tetons and southwest Montana as the best zone for meaningful accumulation, while lower elevations and passes deal with heavier, wetter snow and gusts in the 35-50 mph range. Bogus Basin and Tamarack stay on the fringe with only minor new snow, so this is more of a wind and visibility story than a true chase cycle for the open Idaho terrain.

The more important wave arrives in Utah late Saturday and ramps up overnight into Sunday. Guidance has tightened on timing and placement across the Wasatch, with much better agreement on storm structure there than farther south, and that supports 9-14 inches at Brighton and 9-16 inches at Alta and Snowbird by Tuesday afternoon. Snow levels rise during the warmest part of the storm, so Sunday should ski on the heavy side. Temperatures cool enough Sunday night into Monday for a cleaner finish and better-quality turns. Winds look much less damaging here than in the northern Rockies, which helps the Cottonwoods separate from the rest of the forecast area.

Spread increases once you move away from the central Wasatch. Eagle Point has legitimate upside and could land in the same conversation as the Cottonwoods, but guidance is still diverging on intensity and duration there, with a much wider range on both snowfall and snow levels. After Tuesday, both regions keep weak reloads on the board, but timing and totals become much less coherent and are better treated as speculative.

Daily Chase Recommendations

Each day’s snowfall range combines the previous night (4 p.m.-8 a.m.) and that day (8 a.m.-4 p.m.).

Sunday, April 26, 2026

Alta and Snowbird are the best Sunday targets with 4-7 inches of heavy snow and the storm still building into the afternoon.

Monday, April 27, 2026

Alta and Snowbird stay on top Monday with 2-4 inches of moderate snow falling onto a fresh Sunday base and lighter wind.

Extended Outlook

After Tuesday the pattern does not shut off, but it loses definition quickly. Utah still looks favored for periodic light reloads through midweek, while the northern Rockies stay cooler with smaller, more scattered shots and southwest Idaho trends drier after the current storm. Farther out, the broader pattern still leans unsettled for Utah and Wyoming with no strong warmup signal, but any late-week reload currently looks more like a modest refresh than a high-end storm.

Related: Alta Just Revived a Legendary Powder Skiing Tradition That Disappeared for 28 Years