Before getting to the forecast, I want to show this time-lapse video from Steamboat, which stretches from Saturday afternoon through Sunday afternoon. Above the clouds! (if you can’t see the embedded video below, go here: https://www.youtube.com/embed/FjOK8-72pcg).

On Monday morning, the slow-moving storm to our south and east is still affecting our weather. As we expected, a band of snow pushed from east-to-west across most mountains on Sunday night, so the Monday morning snow report shows 1-3 inches for many locations. This isn’t enough for a powder day, but it will keep conditions soft, especially on the groomers.

The storm will continue to move to the north and east of Colorado on Monday, and that’s where most of the precipitation will be as well.

The eastern mountains (Eldora, Echo, Monarch) have the best chance for a few more inches on Monday, and then the southern mountains could see additional flurries or light snow on Monday afternoon and Monday night as a piece of this storm lingers near the border of Colorado and New Mexico.

Below is an image of our current weather pattern on Monday. Notice the storminess to our east and south. The blue colors show storminess and cooler weather while red colors show drier and warmer weather.

After this storminess shifts south and east, we should see dry weather on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday.

Then our next chance for snow will start on Thursday night and should continue through Sunday morning.

From Thursday night through Saturday, the flow from the southwest should favor the southern and south-central mountains. A range of 4-8 inches feels right for now and we’ll discuss this more in the coming days.

On Saturday night into Sunday, the storm will move to our east and the wind should switch to blow from the west and northwest. This should favor the central and northern mountains with potential powder on Sunday (January 22).

Monday the 23rd should offer a brief break in the action as we’ll be in between storms.

Then the next system should bring snow on Tuesday and Wednesday (January 24-25). This storm looks a bit more powerful than the Friday/Saturday/Sunday storm, so there could be a significant powder day on Wednesday with double-digit storm totals if we’re lucky. Of course, this is 9 days away, so it’s only time to think of the possibility of powder and too soon to make specific plans.

Once the Wednesday storm moves away on the 25th or 26th, many of the models that show 10-15 day forecasts hint that the last few days of the month will be drier as a ridge (red colors, black lines pushing northward) develops over the west coast.

We’ll see what happens. For the last 6-8 weeks, the atmosphere has found a way to keep the snow falling in Colorado despite times when the longer range forecasts indicated dry weather. Perhaps the atmosphere will beat the models later this month as well:-)

Thanks for reading!

JOEL GRATZ

I am a fan of fun in the mountains AND learning about the mountain environment. Please take a moment to consider making a donation to get these kids up to the Keystone Science School for 3 days of fun and learning in March. I am thrilled that OpenSnow contributed $100 toward their tuition and transportation. Their teacher, Robert Cooper, emailed me and asked for a shout out because “I often give some press to great companies doing great things, and these are great kids doing great things.” Sounds great to me! More info here: https://www.gofundme.com/keystone-science-school-experience

 

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 – north side of the southern mountains | Purgatory, Wolf Creek – south side of the southern mountains