Colorado Daily Snow
By Joel Gratz, Founding Meteorologist Posted 9 years ago March 30, 2015
Something to talk about
Summary:
- Dry, sunny, and warm on Monday and Tuesday
- A few showers and a bit cooler on Wednesday
- Snow on Thursday into Friday morning
- Deepest accumulations likely along and east of the northern divide
- Could be some powder for Thursday last chair of Friday first chair
- Next weekend will be warm and dry
- Another storm likely around April 8th (+/- a day or two)
Details:
Monday and Tuesday will be warm and sunny days with afternoon high temperatures in the upper 40s to lower 50s on the hill. There could be a quick afternoon shower on Monday in the San Juans, and there could be a few more afternoon showers on Tuesday for the southern and central mountains as well. Though none of these showers should have an impact on your day. The snow conditions will be typical of spring, with hard, crunchy snow in the morning, softening by midday and afternoon.
We can thank a large ridge of high pressure for providing the spring weather early this week.
Then on Wednesday, temperatures will cool a bit with a few more showers. We could see a little bit of snow accumulation on Wednesday and Wednesday night, but I don't think this will be a big deal.
The most significant storm of the week will occur on Thursday through Friday morning. This storm will drop down from the northwest and will bring much cooler air to all of Colorado.
The best chance for significant snowfall will occur along and east of the divide, along and north of I-70, from midday Thursday through Friday morning. The mountains west of the divide and along I-70 could also see a period of decent snowfall on Thursday afternoon or Thursday night, but this is less certain and will depend on the exact track of the storm.
You'll likely find the most powder late Thursday afternoon or first thing Friday morning. For areas along and east of the divide in northern Colorado, amounts greater than 6 inches, perhaps up to a foot, are very likely. For areas west of the divide in northern Colorado, 2-4 inches seems like a reasonable forecast, though if the storm tracks a bit further north these amounts will decrease, and if the storm tracks further south, the amounts will increase.
The map below shows the forecast for precipitation from Thursday through Friday morning. Multiply by about 13 to estimate snowfall.
Then we'll dry out on Friday afternoon, with sunny and warm weather for next weekend, likely extending into early the following week.
The longer range forecast will is interesting for Colorado, as all models are forecasting that one or two storms will affect us sometime during the week of April 6-10th. This storm (or storms) will first bring precipitation to California and the Tahoe region (they need it!), and then we'll likely see the first storm around April 8th, plus or minus a day. This could be a one-and-done storm, but there are also some hints in the models that we might see back-to-back systems with cooler air and snow hanging around for multiple days. Something to watch, for sure.
That's all for today, folks. Thanks for reading and sticking with me until the end of the season ... we're not done yet!
JOEL GRATZ
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, Abasin, Winter Park, Berthoud Pass
East of the Divide
Eldora, Rocky Mountain National Park, Cameron Pass
Central Mountains
Aspen, Sunlight, Monarch, Crested Butte, Irwin, Powderhorn
Southern Mountains
Telluride, Silverton, Durango, Wolf Creek (Telluride and Silverton are on the northern side of the southern mountains)