I wrote my season wrap-up post on Wednesday, April 24. To see the best pictures and snowpack maps, click over to that post: https://opensnow.com/dailysnow/colorado/post/15303

In that season wrap-up post, I mentioned that there was a chance for a colder storm during early May, and if that storm seemed like a high probability, I would post again.

There is no better to way for me to coax a storm into coming to Colorado than to say ‘That’s all, folks, it’s my last post.’ I took one day off from looking at weather data (Thursday, April 25), and I looked at data again today, Friday, April 26, and boom, it now looks like next week will bring a LOT of precipitation to Colorado.

To set the stage, let’s with our current snowpack situation in Colorado. In a nutshell, the snowpack is still well above average. Here is a flyover picture from above Breckenridge on Thursday, April 25. Looks good to me!

Friday morning brought sunny skies, and I enjoyed another warm morning with my one-and-a-half-year-old at Arapahoe Basin.

On Friday afternoon and Friday night, a storm will bring a few rounds of showers which should drop a few inches of snow on the central and northern mountains.

On Saturday, look for dry weather for most of the day.

From Saturday evening through Sunday, there will be showers around. I see no clear trend in the models about the timing of the showers, so expect some sunshine, some clouds, some showers, and maybe some high-elevation accumulation.

The best chance for significant snow will then begin on Monday morning and continue through Wednesday afternoon.

Below is one model’s 3-day snow forecast from Monday morning through Wednesday evening. That’s 10-20 inches across the higher elevations for the northern, central, and southern mountains. Wow!

Just in case you think I am cherrypicking the model with the deepest snow forecast, below are two ensemble forecasts, which average the forecasts from many models.

The 50 model versions that go into the European model ensemble show that most of the higher elevations of Colorado have a near 100% chance to see 12+ inches of snow between now and the middle of next week. Those are good odds.

Looking at the model versions for the American GEFS and the Canadian CMCE models, the University of Utah forecast for the northern mountains shows 10-30 inches of snow.

Based on the data above, chances are very high that we’ll see a LOT of snow next week.

The temperatures will NOT be very cold, but it WILL be cold enough to see snow over 9,000-10,000 feet, which describes most of the terrain at most of the ski areas that are still open. So this will be an all-snow storm at the open ski areas. With temperatures likely in the 20s to low 30s, the snow quality will be thick and surfy.

The timing of the storm should mean that BOTH Tuesday and Wednesday could bring deep powder.

The first wave of heavy snow should fall on Monday, Monday night, and through Tuesday morning.

We could see a break in the intense snow at some point on Tuesday.

Then the second round of heavy snow should move through late Tuesday night through Wednesday midday.

As a recap…

Amount of Snow: 10-30 inches for most high-elevation mountains around Colorado

Snow Quality: Thicker and surfy. It’s still fun even if it’s not blower!

Timing: Best powder days on Tuesday and Wednesday.

My next post will be on the morning of Sunday, April 28th, and then I’ll post daily through the storm.

Thanks for reading!

JOEL GRATZ

OpenSnow
Even without “Daily” Daily Snow Posts, the hourly and 10-day forecasts for each mountain will continue to be updated every day, so of course, feel free to use our OpenSnow website and app for your spring skiing adventures.

OpenSummit
As we transition into hiking season, please check out OpenSummit.com, which is our summer app that has precipitation, lightning, temperature, and wind forecasts for the 1,000 highest and most notable mountains around the country. OpenSummit is only an iPhone app right now (late April, 2019) and we are working to make it a website and an Android app by late spring or early summer.

One Subscription
In the next weeks, we will combine the login and All-Access subscription ($19/year) for OpenSnow and OpenSummit so that ONE login and ONE subscription provides All-Access to BOTH apps! 

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