Colorado Daily Snow

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By Joel Gratz, Founding Meteorologist Posted 11 years ago March 18, 2013

Summary

Snow showers continue today (Monday) for the northern half of Colorado and then skies will clear overnight. Tuesday and most of Wednesday should be dry. The next storm brings snow on Thursday with the best powder likely falling in the northern half of the state and the best powder skiing timed for Thursday afternoon or Friday morning. There could be a few additional storms Friday through the weekend which could keep snow showers in the air for the northern mountains...skiing might be pretty darn good this weekend. Stay tuned.

Details

Monday (today) and Monday night:
A moist northwest flow is continuing for the northern half of the state with clouds and snow showers. The best chance for a few inches of snow will be along I-70 and along the divide around Summit County. Snow squalls similar to yesterday could move through, with times of heavier snow followed by lulls and breaks of sun. Winds will continue to be gusty. The snow showers and winds should continue through about midnight and then skies should dry out by sunrise Tuesday morning. Here's a satellite image from this morning at 7:30am showing the clouds (blue colors) covering the northern half of the state.

Colorado Satellite Image

Tuesday and Tuesday night:
We'll be in between storms, so expect dry, party-to-mostly sunny conditions, and relatively warm temperatures. A few snow showers could fall in the San Juans on Tuesday afternoon or evening, but there should not be much or any accumulation.

Wednesday:
The storm will be approaching from our west, but I don't think we'll see much snow...yet. A few snow showers could pop up in the afternoon and evening but I don't think this will be a big deal.

Wednesday night:
The storm will actually move through in two pieces, and the first piece will move through on Wednesday night. This will be the moist part of the storm with winds from the southwest, west-southwest, and eventually from the west. With a ton of moisture in the air, I don't think it'll be hard for snowflakes to fall over much of the state, though this is a tough forecast because the wind direction won't be great for northern areas from Aspen to the north. However with a lot of moisture in the air, I think at least a few inches will fall. I'm more confident of good snow for Crested Butte (which does well with west-southwest winds) and also for the southern San Juans as Wolf Creek could pick up a quick half-a-foot of snow Wednesday night.

Thursday and Thursday night:
There might be a lull in the snow on Thursday morning after the first piece of the storm moves through. Then the second piece of the storm will blast through from late morning (ish) through the rest of the day, and this piece will focus on the northern half of the state. Expect a heavy burst of snow along a cold front and then off-and-on snow squalls through the day. I think many areas will see 4-8 inches (ish) during the middle and end of the day on Thursday and skiing could be quite nice Thursday afternoon. Snow showers could continue through the evening on Thursday which might make Friday morning the best time for powder in the northern half of the state. 

Don't forget ... I list forecasted accumulations for each mountain for the next five days on the "Colorado 1-5 day forecast" page. Check it out!

Friday through Monday:
Tough forecast as there will be "storminess" hanging around Colorado during this time. I think the most likely scenario is that we'll see a moist northwest flow continue for much of Friday through Monday and there will be 6-12 hours of heavier snow / snow squalls followed by lulls in the snow. This will mainly impact the northern half of the state, roughly from Aspen to the north and bring the most snow to I-70 and the continental divide. There could also be some snow east of the divide for the eastern foothills and front range cities and plains. Like I said, tough forecast and a 50-100 mile change in the storm's position will make a big difference. But if I take an average of all the models and variations between forecasts from just one model, it looks like the northern mountains could continue to see snow. This could be a nice weekend to ski...stay tuned:-)

Tuesday through Thursday (March 26-28):
It appears our stubborn weekend storm will finally move away and we'll dry out with sunny conditions. Then I have no clue what will happen for the final few days of March into early April.

JOEL GRATZ

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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