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 November 18, 2017

Cold air and fresh pow

Summary

Most mountains are reporting 6-12 inches of fresh snow on Saturday morning, with the majority of that falling on Friday afternoon and Friday evening. Skies are clearing and temperatures are cold on Saturday morning. Go get some fresh turns! The forecast for the next week shows chances for light snow on Tuesday and next Friday/Saturday, and then perhaps a swing toward more consistent cool and snowy weather as we head into December.

Short Term Forecast

Friday's storm moved through about as expected.

For most of the day on Friday, we saw warm temperatures, high snow levels around 9,000+ feet, and 3-6 inches accumulate around Wolf Creek, Monarch and Crested Butte, and Loveland and Abasin (the higher elevations of the northern mountains).

Then on Friday afternoon and evening, the cold front moved through as promised and dropped 3-9 inches of additional snow within about six hours. This heavy snowfall did close I-70 for a few hours on Friday night – I hope you weren't caught in the mess since we talked about the likelihood of road closures for days!

Now on Saturday morning, temperatures at most mountains are in the 5-15 degree range with a layer of fresh pow. Here are the snow reports. Since most mountains are not open and reporting snow, I used webcams and SNOTEL sites to fill in the gaps.

Arapahoe Basin – 12"
Aspen / Snowmass – 10-12" (summit of Snowmass & Highlands)
Beaver Creek – 8"
Berthoud Pass – 11"
Breckenridge – 12"
Cameron Pass – 13"
Copper Mountain – 7.5"
Crested Butte – 9"
Eldora – 8"
Keystone – 8"
Loveland – 12"
Monarch – 8"
Purgatory – 3"
Rocky Mountain National Park – 10"
Silverton – 6" (?)
Steamboat – 7" (?)
Telluride – 6" (?)
Vail – 9"
Winter Park – 9"
Wolf Creek – 10"

The snow stake camera at Arapahoe Basin shows the goods. The top of the stake is 18", so the 12" official report looks right on.

Breckenridge also reported 12" as confirmed by their stake.

Overall I am pretty happy with the 6-12 inch forecast as most mountains wound up in this range. I was a bit surprised that Crested Butte didn't receive more snow on Friday morning and midday (maybe a higher elevation in the area received more snow since temperatures were warmer at the snow stake which is at a lower elevation?).

Looking across the state, most backcountry SNOTEL sites are reporting an increase of 0.6 to 1.2 inches of SWE, or Snow Water Equivalent, which is the amount of water you would measure if you melted the new snow.

At a ratio of 12:1, which is an average of the thicker snow in the morning and the fluffier snow in the evening, that would put most locations at 7-14 inches. These weather stations are automated and mostly not at resorts, so they serve as a nice double check against the official resort measurements.

The forecast worked out, most mountains received healthy snowfall, and Saturday morning is gorgeous with fresh pow and winter-like temperatures. I hope this makes you smile because it sure makes me smile! And when I told Levi (3-month-old son) about the fresh pow, he gave me a big grin. Atta boy!

Extended Forecast

There will be chances for light snow, especially in the northern mountains, on Tuesday and again next Friday or Saturday. Neither of these storms looks too impressive at the moment, so expect a few inches from each and we'll dial in the forecast as they get closer.

In between next week's systems, Thanksgiving Day is trending warm and dry.

There is good news lurking on the horizon. Most models agree that the weather pattern will begin to change starting around December 1st.

This is good news and I like to see the trend toward more snow and colder air as we head into December. However, this also does NOT guarantee that the atmosphere will start dumping snow on December 1, it's just a trend in the longer-range forecast toward cool and stormy.

Thanks for reading and enjoy the fresh pow!

JOEL GRATZ

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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

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.

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