Our latest weather-maker finally made its move into Colorado on Thursday evening but very mild temperatures remain in place on Friday morning. Many weather stations near 10,000 feet are reporting temps above 30F.

Even though the snow level hovered near and above 10,000 feet on Thursday night, we still have a few locations reporting fresh totals on Friday morning.

Northern Mountains

Ski Cooper: 1"
Vail: 1"

Central Mountains

Aspen Highlands: 6"
Snowmass: 4"
Crested Butte: 3"
Aspen Mountain: 2"
Monarch: 2"

Southern Mountains

Wolf Creek: 5"
Silverton: 2"

Moving onto the forecast, a relatively weak cold front will swing through Colorado between 9:00 - 11:00 am and bring a good shot of moderate to heavy snow to all mountains through Friday afternoon. I really only see the snow line dropping to between 8-9,000 feet through the afternoon so rain and mixed precipitation will be encountered on the valley floors and up to many base areas. 

The primary wind direction is currently from the southwest but it will slowly shift to blowing from the west-southwest into Friday afternoon. This will favor Wolf Creek, Silverton, Crested Butte, Aspen Highlands, Snowmass, Monarch, and Summit County (Copper, Breckenridge, Keystone, Arapahoe Basin, Loveland) for the best totals.

Below is a look the latest ensemble snow forecast for McClure Pass, which is located between Crested Butte and Aspen in central Colorado. 

This gives a fairly conservative outlook for the rest of the day but due to the approaching cold front and the west-southwest wind direction, the favored mountains listed above will still be looking at 4-8 inches through Friday evening and we'll go with 2-5 inches for all other mountains. 

If you're looking to enjoy the fresh snow, aim for the upper half of the mountain on Friday afternoon. The turns on Friday afternoon will be surfy and you should be looking at similar conditions on Saturday morning.

Following the fun on Friday, our skies will quickly begin to clear on Friday night and lead into a mostly sunny weekend. Daytime highs will rise back into the 40s so dress light and wear plenty of sunscreen.

Our full attention will then shift to early next week as a slow-moving system drops to our west and southwest. This storm is currently located off the coast of Oregon and Washington and it will slowly drop into Nevada, Utah, and eventually into Arizona by Monday. If you do not see the animation, click here: http://opsw.co/2pB6V6k

 

The exact details are still a bit hazy but this system should introduce another cold front on Monday and bring a good period of upslope flow (winds from the east and northeast) through Monday night and into Tuesday morning.

This would favor areas east of the divide (RMNP, Eldora, Echo Mountain, Monarch) for the best totals and a light refresh for all other areas. We'll see how it develops over the weekend and jump into more details when we can. 

Looking further ahead, there's a slight chance for another quick-moving system around next Wednesday and Thursday but I have very low confidence at this point. Dry conditions will prevail for the latter half of next week and into the first week of April. The longer-range models are trying to introduce something after April 5th but as we all know, this is fantasy land. 

Thanks for reading and look for my next update on Saturday morning!

SAM COLLENTINE

Geography Key

Northern Mountains
Steamboat, Granby, Beaver Creek, Vail, Ski Cooper, Copper, Breckenridge, Keystone, Loveland, Abasin, Winter Park, Berthoud Pass, Eldora, Rocky Mountain National Park, Cameron Pass

Along the Divide
Loveland, Arapahoe Basin, Winter Park, Berthoud Pass

East of the Divide
Eldora, Echo, Rocky Mountain National Park, Cameron Pass

Central Mountains
Aspen, Sunlight, Monarch, Crested Butte, Irwin, Powderhorn

Southern Mountains
Telluride, Silverton – north side of the southern mountains | Purgatory, Wolf Creek – south side of the southern mountains