Looking back, snow showers continued on Friday and Friday night and most mountains picked up 2-5 additional inches. The highest storm totals between Thursday morning and Saturday morning are:

• Telluride - 12”
• Steamboat - 12”
• Snowmass - 12”
• Silverton - 11” (estimate)
• Aspen Highlands - 11”
• Aspen Mountain - 10”
• Buttermilk - 10”
• Winter Park - 10”
• Beaver Creek - 9”
• Loveland - 9”
• Crested Butte - 7”
• Eldora - 7”

Most other areas picked up at least 5-6 inches. This was not a massive storm, but 5-12 inches over two days was a nice refresher, especially for north-facing slopes that weren’t as crusty following the warm weather last week.

Looking ahead, we will continue to see snow showers on Saturday and Saturday night in the central and northern mountains, and on Saturday night into Sunday for the southern mountains. This is due to weak energy moving over Colorado in combination with lingering moisture. Most areas could receive another 1-3 inches.

Then on Sunday, most mountains will see a break in the snow with lingering flakes in the south.

The next storm will arrive late Sunday night and should bring snow through Wednesday morning.

The northern mountains will see lighter snow on Monday with heavier snow Monday night into Tuesday, and again Tuesday afternoon into Wednesday morning when the winds turn to blow from the northwest. A forecast range of 6-12 inches seems reasonable with the best powder on Tuesday and Wednesday morning.

The central mountains should see the heaviest snow on Monday night and Tuesday morning when an initial batch of energy moves over the state, and snow should continue on Tuesday. Amounts could be higher, in the 8-16 inch range, in the central mountains.

And the southern mountains should see the most snow with southwest winds favoring this area from Sunday night through Tuesday evening. Wolf Creek will probably be the winner, but all areas could go over one foot. The University of Utah ensemble forecast shows 24 inches or more, which is likely the higher end. I’d say 12-24 inches is a good bet.

The precipitation forecast from the American GFS model shows at least 0.5 inches for most areas, or about 6-8 inches of snow, with up to 1.0-1.2 inches of precipitation for some areas, which is close to 15-20 inches of snow.

The best powder days should be Tuesday all day and Wednesday first chair.

After this storm, next Wednesday through Saturday will be dry. A storm to our north might bring a few flakes on Sunday or Monday (March 5-6).

Overall, the first 10 days of March look pretty dry as the storm track stays just to our north. Then most models show the next storm punching into the central Rockies between about March 10-15.

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, 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