Things still look good for the upcoming storm, but I want to talk about some additional details after looking at the latest model data this afternoon.

• Light snow should start late Saturday night or Sunday morning and continue through Tuesday morning.
  
  
• During this time, there will be a band of heavier snow where rates could be 1-2 inches per hour. The models aren't agreeing on the exact placement or timing of this band, but here's the best I can do. I-70 and north could see it Sunday night into Monday morning, then it'll push south to the central mountains Monday morning to midday, and then across the San Juans on Monday midday or afternoon.
  
  
• If this band moves through as expected, look for road closures on I-70 and other passes as plows have a hard time keeping up with this rate of snowfall (and visibilities become very poor).
  
  
• Also, the intensity of this snow band could overwhelm the negative affects of a northwest wind for some central and southern mountains that aren't favored by a northwest wind. So if the model trends hold, I'll likely increase the forecast on Monday for many mountains in the southern half of the state.
  
  
• Overall, Monday looks like a great day to ski powder for many areas. Temperatures will be a bit warmer than I'd like to see on Sunday night, but they will cool on Monday as the band of heavy snow moves through, and this should help with producing snow that is increasingly lighter and fluffier.

• I still think we'll see light to moderate snow continue on Monday night into Tuesday morning with northwest flow, so there could be some fun fluff for Tuesday AM. This is a tricky part of the forecast as models don't reliably forecast snowfall with northwest flow and lingering moisture. We'll see what happens.
  
  
• The Christmas Day storm is super uncertain. I do think it'll snow on Christmas as all four major computer models show decent accumulations, but we'll need to wait another 2-3 days to see if the storm will drop far enough south to bring decent snow to the southern mountains. 

For the full post from Saturday morning, click the orange box below or click here: http://opensnow.com/dailysnow/colorado/post/3020

Next update will be Sunday morning. Have a great night!

JOEL GRATZ