Stoke!

We’ll start with a picture of powder riding from the last storm cycle.

Please send more pictures this week of the deep!

Recap Monday to Tuesday AM

On Monday afternoon, the storm started with a few bursts of intense snow with rates of 2 inches per hour. Then the snow became steadier for a time on Monday evening and tapered off on Tuesday morning.

Most mountains are reporting Tuesday morning snow totals in line with our 4-8 inch forecast.

Beaver Creek: 8”
Eldora: 8"
Monarch: 8"
Telluride: 8”
Aspen Mountain: 7”
Buttermilk: 7”
Sunlight: 7”
Breckenridge: 6”
Purgatory: 6”
Sunlight: 6”
Vail: 6”
Winter Park: 6”
Keystone: 5”
Copper: 4”
Crested Butte: 4”
Keystone: 4”
Loveland: 4”
Steamboat: 3”

And there were a few spots that saw much more snow!

Snowmass: 15”
Powderhorn: 14”
Aspen Highlands: 11”
Monarch: 11"

Aspen Highlands and Snowmass saw intense snow both from a few cells on Monday afternoon and on Monday late night as a band of heavier snow moved from north to south. At Powderhorn, they can do well on with a north wind hitting the north side of the Grand Mesa head on, and this storm delivered in a big way, and there was also some good fortune that the certain of circulation of this storm passed right over the Grand Mesa area (and maybe hit the Aspen area as it headed east). The other over-performer is Monarch, and they are always a tough forecast. Maybe they also saw the center of circulation as it moved east-southeast across the state.

Now on Tuesday morning, temperatures on the mountain are in the single digits, so dress warmly to enjoy this morning’s powder. Also, temperatures were trending cooler with this storm, so most of the snow will be light and fluffy. Enjoy!

Snow Wednesday to Thursday

The next storm will bring snow starting on Wednesday morning in the far northern mountains then most areas will see snow later Wednesday through late morning on Thursday.

This storm will bring northwest winds and track over northern Colorado, so the northern mountains will be heavily favored. The snow forecast from Wednesday to Thursday midday looks like this:

* Far northern mountains (Steamboat, Cameron Pass): 10-15”
* Northern Mountains: 5-10”
* Central Mountains: 2-7”
* Southern Mountains: 1-3”

Here is the CAIC WRF 4km model for Wednesday, with snow getting started.

And for Wednesday night, the most intense snow.

Then snow lingers through the first half of Thursday.

Models have consistently pointed to Steamboat and the far northern mountains as the location with the best potential for deep snow. Here is the forecast graph for Steamboat, with total inches of snow on the right side.

The best powder should be on Thursday morning in the northern mountains with some snow in the central mountains as well. Due to chilly and slightly cooling temperatures on Wednesday night, the snow quality on Thursday morning should be nice and fluffy.

In the northern mountains, we could see light snow linger on Thursday, Friday, and into Saturday as well.

For all other areas, the next shot of light snow could hit on Friday night into Saturday with just light accumulations.

Then the next storm should bring light snow Monday into Tuesday, but the big story could be the very cold air on Tuesday.

After that and into early January, the weather pattern will change but I do not know how this will impact the snow forecast here in Colorado. Stay tuned.

Thanks for reading!

My next update will be on Wednesday, January 23.

JOEL GRATZ

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