Tuesday morning is dawning with partly cloudy skies and very cold temperatures with on-mountain readings around 0F and some valleys near or colder than -10F.

High temperatures on Tuesday should rise into the teens. Still chilly, but manageable.

For the rest of the week, the coldest air will stay to the east of Colorado and temperatures will be warmer with highs in the mid-to-upper 20s and the weather will be dry through Friday.

I like the look of the period from late Saturday through next Tuesday or Wednesday.

During this time, we’ll see multiple waves of energy and moisture move through Colorado with significant snow totals.

The average precipitation forecast from multiple model versions on Saturday night, Sunday, and Monday shows that the most precipitation should fall in the southern mountains.

Below is a low-resolution model, so do not pay attention to the exact placement of the precipitation amounts but rather focus on the overall trend of more precipitation to the south and west.

Taking the 1.1 inches in the southern mountains and multiplying by a snow-to-liquid ratio of 14 (this storm might be a bit warmer with a bit thicker snow than our average ratio of 15-to-1), we get 1.1 x 14 = 15 inches of snow.

The University of Utah ensemble forecast shows similar amounts, below for Coal Bank Pass north of Purgatory and south of Silverton in the southern mountains.

This first wave of snow from late Saturday through Monday should produce good powder in the southern mountains on Sunday and maybe through Monday as well.

Then another wave should move in from sometime Monday through Wednesday. This could keep the snow going in the southern mountains with a better shot for snow in the northern and central mountains later Tuesday into Wednesday.

After a dry week, it’ll be good to see the snow again this week, and if you want the highest odds for skiing powder on Sunday and early next week, right now it looks like you should head south.

Thanks for reading!

My next update will be on Wednesday morning.

JOEL GRATZ

I will be on the road (skiing!) through February 8th and while I will try to post every day in the morning as usual, occasionally my posts might be a bit shorter or go live at somewhat different times. Thanks for understanding that I need to get my powder fix as well:-)

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