If you enjoy skiing in the sunshine and comfortable temperatures, this is your week. Wednesday through Friday will be dry, mostly sunny, and temperatures will rise a few degrees each day with highs in the 20s to low 30s. We’ll see more clouds on Saturday as the next storm approaches.

All models are showing roughly the same forecast for the upcoming storm cycle.

The first wave should move through from Saturday night through Sunday, then there might be a break on Monday, and a second wave will push in later Monday through Wednesday. The timing of each wave is still somewhat uncertain and we’ll need to fine-tune that over the coming days.

Since the average wind direction from Saturday night through next Wednesday will blow from the south, southwest, and west, the southern mountains are favored for the most snow.

The University of Utah multi-model ensemble for the southern mountains brings about 2 feet through Tuesday night.

The central mountains should also see significant snow with amounts in the 1-foot range.

And the northern mountains will likely see lower totals, at least through Tuesday, with maybe 1/2 a foot. The northern mountains could see more snow late Tuesday through Wednesday as the wind direction could blow from a more favorable direction that is north of west.

If you're chasing the most powder, I'd still focus on the southern mountains as it's possible that they could see two, three, or even four powder days in a row from Sunday through Wednesday.

These multi-day storm cycles are fantastic because the base gets softer each day, so the new snow that falls on day three and four skis very nicely and can feel bottomless.

Thanks for reading!

My next update will be on Thursday 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