Saturday was a pleasant day across Colorado, with mid-mountain highs rising into the 30s to low 40s. Most areas received a few passing clouds and gusts of wind but that was really it.

It will now be a similar story through Sunday but with slightly gustier winds and more cloud coverage, especially during the second half of the day. Some locations in western Colorado could begin to receive scattered snow showers by late Sunday afternoon ahead of scattered coverage across the state through Sunday night. Look for a dusting to maybe an inch or two for all locations by Monday morning. 

Our next weather-maker will continue its march from the Pacific Northwest on Sunday, down into Arizona on Monday, and eventually well to our south through Tuesday. This will combine with increased moisture across eastern Colorado, a cold front from the north, and north to northeasterly upslope flow on Monday evening to bring areas east of the divide the best chance for light totals through Monday night. 

Below is the same graphic that I presented in Saturday's update, the European ensemble snow forecast for Echo Mountain, which is located just west of Denver and south of Idaho Springs. The top graphic provides 51 variations of the model, while the bottom graphic pulls together the ensemble mean. 

Bringing all of the above together, I'm not overly impressed with the setup, especially for areas north of I-70. This storm is trending further south and it will keep the best energy to the south as well.

In total, we'll be looking at 1-3 inches at Eldora and areas near Rocky Mountain National Park and 2-5 inches at Echo Mountain and the higher terrain west of Denver but south of I-70. This setup will also not be ideal for all other areas but we can still expect 1-3 inches through Tuesday morning. 

The snow machine will quiet down for the rest of Tuesday and into Wednesday. Lingering clouds and showers will be possible but temperatures will remain on the mild side, with daytime highs reaching into the upper 20s to low 30s each day. 

We'll then turn our attention to the second half of Wednesday as just enough moisture and lift swings into Colorado from the north and brings the northern and central mountains a light refresh through Thursday. 1-4 inches will be the intitial forecast, which could be just enough to soften up the groomers for Thursday. 

Looking further ahead, we'll be caught right on the edge of the main storm track heading into next weekend and the first week of April. There are some signals for additional storms, while others keep us dry into early April. More details to come this week. 

Thanks for reading and stay tuned for Joel's next update on Monday 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