The storm that brought snow to all of Colorado on Saturday is still impacting our weather now on Monday. The satellite image below shows the center of the storm spinning just south of the Arizona/Mexico border, with clouds rotating into Colorado from the south.

Bands of snow have been moving over southern and south-central Colorado on Sunday and Sunday night, which resulted in additional snowfall:

• Silverton - 15" (update from earlier when I said 5" ... they made a reporting error)
• Wolf Creek - 6”
• Purgatory - 4”
• Telluride - 3”
• Monarch - 2”
• Crested Butte - 2”

These mountains will continue to experience snow showers on Monday and they could receive another 2-6 inches during the day and evening. Some snow might also make it a bit further north toward Aspen and the I-70 corridor, but amounts here should be lighter.

Before we talk about the storm cycle coming up, I want to draw our attention to an amazing milestone that we reached yesterday, Sunday February 12th. The snowpack across Colorado reached our average peak snowpack, which usually occurs on April 9th. We are 2 months ahead of schedule, and our snowpack will continue to grow appreciably through the end of February, so we should end up well above average (unless March and April turn drier).

On the forecast…

On Monday we’ll still be influenced by the storm to our south (blue colors in the map below), so the southern half of the state will see additional snowfall with most northern areas seeing a mix of clouds, snow showers, and sunshine.

Then on Tuesday, the storm to our south will finally start moving away and most mountains will see mostly sunny skies. Wednesday and Thursday should also be dry and mostly sunny. Enjoy the bluebird weather because we’re about to enter a stormier, snowy, and less sunny period!

For two weeks, the medium-to-longer range models have consistently shown an active weather pattern between February 18 and February 28th.

These models continue to show this active pattern, so my confidence is high that Colorado will get multiple days of snow during this 10-day stretch.

Also, these models have consistently shown that most of the storms will move in from the southwest, which should bring the most snow to the southern and south-central mountains.

I have less confidence in the exact details of each storm, but here is a general idea.

The first storm should bring snow starting on Friday or Saturday, and snow will continue through next Monday or Tuesday. The brunt of the storm’s energy should track to the south of Colorado (see the blue area over New Mexico in the graphic below). This storm track should mean that the southern half of the state will see the most snow through Sunday/Monday, then the northern mountains will receive more snow on Monday/Tuesday as winds switch to blow from the west and northwest.

After that system, we may see a break in the heavier snow during the middle of next week.

And then all models show another storm (or storms) moving toward Colorado later next week (February 24th, ish) and continuing through February 28th.

Of these storms, the final one between the 24-28th looks like it could be the strongest.

Stay tuned … the last 10 days of February should bring multiple powder days to Colorado. What an awesome season so far with more to come!

JOEL GRATZ

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, 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