This has already been a rather eventful October as far as winter storms are concerned.

First, Winter Storm Atlas buried parts of the northern High Plains of the western Dakotas, Wyoming and western Nebraska with heavy, wet snow crippling travel and snapping trees and powerlines.

Then, last week, several locations from Upper Midwest to the Appalachians picked up their first measurable snow of the season.

Now, the final week of October has brought yet another winter storm to the western states. Let's detail what we know now regarding this storm system.

Snow Timeline

On Monday, the storm delivered 5.9 inches of snow to Great Falls, Mont. This is the third greatest single-day October snowfall total on record in the city. Winnemucca, Nev. also had its third snowiest

October day on Monday with a total of 4.1 inches.

Elsewhere, the storm brought 7.8 inches of snow to Riverton, Wyo. on Tuesday. Up to 15 inches was recorded at Sugarbowl Ski Resort in California.

Thanks to a vigorous upper-atmospheric low over the Great Basin, snow will continue in the Rockies on Tuesday.
Here's an approximate timeline on the wintry weather:

• Tuesday: Areas of light to moderate snow continue over much of the central and northern Rockies (see inset map for details). A few lingering snowflakes possible early for the mountains of California. A strip of light snow continues across parts of the northern Plains. The greatest additional snowfall amounts will be found in the mountains of Wyoming and Colorado. Pockets of freezing rain or freezing drizzle will continue to show up in the transition zone over parts of South Dakota, northwest Nebraska and southeast Wyoming as warm air tries to intrude into the storm system from the south.
• Wednesday: Light snow showers persist over the mountains of Wyoming, Utah, and Colorado. Farther east, warm air starts to overwhelm the Plains, changing most of the frozen precipitation over to rain. Still, a few pockets of frozen precipitation may linger over parts of the central Dakotas with little or no impact to travel.

Powerful Winds

An Arctic cold front moved southward from the Canadian Rockies and Prairies into the northern Rockies and Plains the last couple of days. Very strong high pressure (1038 millibars) built southward behind the front, while at the same time strong low pressure (998 millibars) developed over Nevada.

The difference between these two pressure centers led to widespread strong, gusty winds on Monday in parts of the West.

It was a windy day in the Las Vegas area on Monday. Gusts higher than 50 mph were recorded in the afternoon.

Tuesday, gusty winds will linger in parts of New Mexico, northern/eastern Arizona and in the central Rockies.

http://www.weather.com/news/weather-winter/rockies-snowstorm-halloween-week-20131023