Following a warm and sunny week, a fast-moving storm brought 12 hours of flakes to the mountains of Colorado.

Only Arapahoe Basin and Loveland are open and reporting snow, so it took some time for me this morning to look at webcams and SNOTEL stations to attempt to put together this list of snowfall at each mountain.

Aside from Arapahoe Basin and Loveland, all of the numbers are estimates based on webcams and SNOTEL stations and not based on on-the-ground reports.

Arapahoe Basin - 2" (official)

Aspen Mountain - 5"

Beaver Creek - 6"

Berthoud Pass - 4-5"

Breckenridge - 4"

Cameron Pass - 5"

Cooper - 5"

Copper - 4"

Crested Butte - 2"

Eldora - 1-2"

Echo - 1-2"

Keystone - 3"

Loveland - 1.5" (official)

Monarch - 1-2"

Powderhorn - 1-2"

Purgatory - Dusting

Silverton - 2-3"

Steamboat - 4"

Sunlight - dusting

Telluride - 2-3"

Vail - 5-6"

Winter Park - 4-5"

Wolf Creek - 0"

The deepest webcam image was at Beaver Creek, which I think is showing about 6 inches. If you look quickly at this image, you might think it shows 9 inches, but when you look at it carefully, I'd say 6 inches is the more reasonable call.

And here is a reader-submitted photo from the Aspen area. Art Burrows reported about 3 inches at 8,500 feet near the base with about double that up higher on the mountain.

My forecast range for this storm was an average of 2-4 inches for the central and northern mountains with a bit more in a few lucky spots.

Looking at the numbers above, I feel good about that forecast, but the storm did offer more than 4 inches for mountains that are located further west (Steamboat, Vail, Beaver Creek, Aspen), so perhaps I could have increased the forecast a hair for these areas.

People often accuse me of under forecasting snow. That's true, as I do try to err just a bit on the low side.

Few people get super mad at me if there is a bit more snow than forecast. But a lot of people will get mad at me if I forecast big amounts and it doesn't happen. Sometimes I think my job is 99% meteorologist and 1% psychologist:-)

After a chilly yet sunny day on Saturday, we'll see warmer and dry weather from Sunday through Thursday.

Our next chance for a storm will be on Friday, October 27th. There is a good chance that this storm will side-swipe Colorado from the east, which means that the best chance for a few inches of snow will be from the divide east to the eastern mountains (Eldora), eastern foothills (Echo), and the Denver metro area (temperatures could be cold enough to make it snow in the Denver metro).

Said another way, there is a low chance that next Friday's storm will bring meaningful snow to most ski areas, though it's not impossible. I'll keep an eye on it and give you another update first thing on Monday morning.

Have a great weekend and thanks for reading!

JOEL GRATZ

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

Next Talk

I'll be giving a talk at Bentgage Mountaineering in Golden on Nov 8th. See you there!

https://www.facebook.com/events/1209665705844183/

Fundraiser

If you are in or near Buena Vista, there is a fundraiser on November 11th to raise money to bring the BV Special Education class skiing at the Breckenridge Outdoor Education Center. The event includes a movie and raffle. More info here:

http://thelariatbv.com/event/ski-movie-premiere-fundraiser/

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