First up, Arapahoe Basin announced that they are opening on Friday, October 13th. The recent cool weather helped them to produce a lot of snow, so the season kicks off on Friday.

http://opensnow.com/news/post/arapahoe-basin-will-open-for-the-2017-18-season-on-friday-october-13

Recap of Storm #8

The storm during this past Sunday night and Monday moved through about as expected. The deepest amounts of 10-12 inches were in the foothills east of the divide and west of Denver. The Denver metro area did see measurable snowfall, and the mountains west of the divide averaged about 3 inches.

Of course, there are always a few surprises. Crested Butte's 8 inches was a surprise and was due to luck as they happened to be directly under an area of heavier snow the was created by the center of the storm tracking right over them. Monarch also did well, with about 6-8 inches by the look of their picture below. Monarch's snowfall was more predictable as they can do well with a wind from the east.

A few pictures...

And here's a beautiful post-storm picture from the Aspen area.

Last thing about the past storm...

In my post on Friday, October 6th (http://opensnow.com/dailysnow/colorado/post/8742), I showed a forecast from the high-resolution 3km WRF that predicted ~10 inches at Steamboat and said that this was highly unlikely since Steamboat would see a wind from the east which is NOT favorable for snow. The reality was that Steamboat received about 2 inches early in the storm, and then the wind from the east strengthened which effectively killed the snow. To understand this effect at Steamboat, I think there needs to be a 1km model, not a 3km model. I'll keep searching...

Next storm

The weather will be quiet for the rest of the week. Then the next storm will bring a brief shot of snow (1-3 inches) to the northern mountains on Saturday night. This storm is already bringing precipitation to the northwest and will take a few days to get to Colorado.

Most of next week will be dry and warm, with the cold air and snow hanging well to our northwest.

Our next chance for a storm will be around the weekend of October 21/22.

Thanks for reading!

JOEL GRATZ

Colorado Forecast Page → https://opensnow.com/state/co

Talks

I'll be giving a talk in Golden on Thursday, October 12th at 630pm at Powder7 ski shop. See you there!

https://www.facebook.com/events/122739898436419/

Snow Tires

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE get snow tires. Yes, they are expensive, And yes, they are MUCH better than a standard all- season tire. If you love to chase powder, you owe it to yourself, your friends, and your family to put snow tires on your car. I don't get paid to say this or to see any specific tire ... I just believe in it so much because I came to Colorado in 2003 thinking that snow tires were a gimmick and quickly found out that I was completely wrong. If you're in Boulder (where I live), I recommend Discount Tire. I now know Paul the manager, but for 10+ years I went there without any special deal or knowing anyone, just because they were always professional and I trusted their work.

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