Colorado Daily Snow

Heads up, there may be fresher snow! Read the latest Colorado Daily Snow

By Joel Gratz, Founding Meteorologist Posted 6 years ago April 28, 2017

One more storm!

Update

We have seen snow each day and night between Sunday evening and Thursday night. This has been a great stretch of pow for any time of year, and especially for late April!

Here are the snow totals this week (between Sunday evening and Thursday night):

  • Abasin 18”
  • Loveland 21”
  • Winter Park 18”

Also, I noticed via the snow stake camera that Breckenridge picked up 12 inches on Thursday, with most of that falling late in the day and at night. Through the week, most other mountains across the state have received at least 6-12 inches as well, so the skiing is great in many areas. As proof, here is a screenshot of a video sent to me from the Steamboat backcountry. Skier is Billy Grimes, shot by Alex Ashley. It looks like mid winter!

Now on Friday morning, temperatures are chilly, in the mid-teens at mid-mountain, and this means that the most recent snow is cold and fluffy.

The next storm will arrive midday Friday and continue through Saturday evening. This storm will favor areas east of the divide (6-12"+) with 3-6”+ for areas west of the divide. Expect snow to begin on Friday afternoon and evening, fall heavily for a time on Friday night into Saturday, and then become more showery on Saturday and Saturday evening.

The winds from the east will favor areas like Rocky Mountain National Park, Eldora, Echo, Monarch, and Wolf Creek. To my knowledge, Eldora, Echo, Monarch, and Wolf Creek will NOT be open this weekend, so if you’re seeking the deepest snow, the backcountry will be the place to go. Please remember that even though the calendar says it’s almost May, there is still avalanche danger, so check the avalanche forecast from CAIC and keep your decision-making solid.

There will be some carry over of the snow into Berthoud Pass, Winter Park, Loveland, and Abasin, so you’ll still find good snow at the lift-serviced terrain, I just don’t think the snow at these areas will be as deep as locations east of the divide.

I am a bit concerned that this storm will drop too far south and will bring lower-than-expected totals to the mountains I mentioned above. But there is enough uncertainty in the track of the storm that I don’t want to over sell or under sell the potential snowfall, so I’ll leave my message as ski Saturday for fresh pow and cold temperatures, and ski Sunday from sunny skies and warming temperatures (that means get after the snow early before the sun works it into mashed potatoes).

After a sunny start to Sunday, we’ll see more clouds on Sunday afternoon with snow showers for the northern mountains between Sunday night and next Wednesday morning.

After that, the second half of next week and next weekend should be dry, then most models show storminess returning in the days centered around May 10th.

The spring snow just won’t end. Go get some!

Thanks for reading!

JOEL GRATZ

About Our Forecaster

Joel Gratz

Founding Meteorologist

Joel Gratz is the Founding Meteorologist of OpenSnow and has lived in Boulder, Colorado since 2003. Before moving to Colorado, he spent his childhood as a (not very fast) ski racer in eastern Pennsylvania.

Free OpenSnow App