Colorado Daily Snow

Heads up, there may be fresher snow! Read the latest Colorado Daily Snow

By Joel Gratz, Founding Meteorologist Posted 5 years ago April 7, 2018

Friday night update at 830pm – powder on Saturday morning and Sunday morning

Update

On Friday, the northern mountains saw 3-6 inches of snow during the day with little snow in the central mountains.

As we discussed during the last few days, forecasts showed that Friday’s snowfall would continue on Friday night, making Saturday morning a pretty good powder day.

Now on Friday night at 800 pm, webcams show that the snow is indeed continuing, and it’s adding up faster than expected in some areas.

Below are the snow totals from Friday at 500am through Friday at 800pm, based on snow stake cameras and SNOTEL weather stations. Of these totals, roughly 2-4 inches has fallen after lifts closed on Friday afternoon.

Winter Park – 13”
Keystone – 9”
Steamboat – 9”
Copper – 7”
Eldora – 6-8”
Breckenridge – 6”
Cooper – 6”
Vail – 4-8”
Beaver Creek – 5”
Arapahoe Basin – 4-5”
Loveland – 4”
Crested Butte – 3”
Monarch – 2-4”

The latest models show that the steady snow could continue until about Saturday at 300am, then will turn lighter and/or more showery. This means that we could add an additional 3-6 inches to the totals I listed above, which would make Saturday morning a great time to ride powder, primarily in the northern mountains.

The caveat to this is that temperatures are VERY warm, with a freezing level (32F) around 10,000 feet. Snow is falling lower than this elevation, though, down to about 8,500 feet. With the exception of rain at the base of some of the lower mountains, most of the skiable terrain is getting snow, which is good. The warm temperatures mean that this snow will be thick, dense, and surfy – not fluffy powder. That’s OK – we can’t get the fluff all the time. Surfy, dense snow is still fun to ski, just adjust your expectations!

The key message is that Saturday morning should offer powder in the northern mountains with some double-digit totals being reported on the Saturday 500am reports. Have fun!

Also, I took a look at the forecast for the next storm, on Saturday night, and it looks slightly colder than previous forecasts. It will still rain at the base of the lower-elevation mountains, but like Friday night, the mid and upper parts of most mountains should see mostly snow. Also, temperatures will cool after midnight on Saturday night, so the snow quality could be better than expected on Sunday morning. With so much moisture coming, snowfall amounts of 10-15 inches are possible on Saturday night into Sunday morning, favoring the northern mountains.

And, if all that wasn’t enough, the final wave of snow should move through on Sunday night, with a fluffy 3-6 inches falling by Monday morning.

Thus, we have three chances to ski powder in the next three days:

* Saturday morning – dense, thick snow, deepest in the northern mountains with 6-18 inches.

* Sunday morning – dense, thick snow under slightly fluffier snow, deepest in the northern mountains with 8-15 inches.

* Monday morning – fluffier, light snow over the dense snow from previous days, deepest in the northern mountains with 3-6 inches.

Thank you to the atmosphere for providing this April bounty, thanks for reading, and enjoy the pow!

JOEL GRATZ

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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

About Our Forecaster

Joel Gratz

Founding Meteorologist

Joel Gratz is the Founding Meteorologist of OpenSnow and has lived in Boulder, Colorado since 2003. Before moving to Colorado, he spent his childhood as a (not very fast) ski racer in eastern Pennsylvania.

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