Colorado Daily Snow

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By Joel Gratz, Founding Meteorologist Posted 6 years ago December 26, 2017

Christmas powder, now we wait

Summary

Christmas Day was a tremendous powder day in the northern mountains with 6-18 inch storm totals, and the central mountains also saw significant snowfall with 5-10 inch totals. There will be leftover powder in the northern mountains on Tuesday, and then we’ll need to wait until at least Saturday night for more snow, with the potential for the next significant storm sometime during the middle or end of next week.

Short Term Forecast

In the northern and central mountains, snow began to fall on Sunday at midnight and it continued through about noon on Monday (Christmas Day), with lighter snow continuing to fall off-and-on through about Monday night.

Storm total snowfall was most impressive in the northern mountains, with the deepest snow at Breckenridge and Winter Park.

Here are the highest totals I could find, substantiated by snow stake webcams, between Sunday at midnight and Monday late evening:

Breckenridge - 18”
Winter Park - 18”
Copper - 17”
Keystone - 16”
Arapahoe Basin - 15”
Loveland - 14”

My forecast for the areas above was 6-12 inches, so all exceeded the high end of the forecast. As a meteorologist who is obsessed with predicting snow in Colorado, I am mad that I didn't go high enough with the forecast. As a skier, I am pleased with the forecast because I correctly showed that these mountains (with the exception of Copper) would receive the most snow, got the timing about right (ski Christmas Day!), and always would like to under promise a bit and have the storm over deliver rather than the other way around (we have all been disappointed when big forecasts turn into just a few inches).

These snow totals, 14-18 inches in about 12 hours, are rare and impressive for the northern mountains. Usually, this region of Colorado sees lower snow totals (4-8 inches every 12-24 hours) because there is not enough moisture to create more snow and deeper totals. However, the Christmas Day storm brought in lots of moisture, and other atmospheric factors (jet stream, wind direction) combined to create the most snow at the highest elevation ski areas near the divide.

Full a full run-down of the recent snowfall for all Colorado mountains, see this page:
https://opensnow.com/state/CO/history

Looking ahead, today, Tuesday, should be mostly dry for most areas. There will be leftover powder to ski in the northern mountains along with 2-4 fresh inches at Loveland, Copper, and Breckenridge, which all received snow after the lifts closed on Monday afternoon. Also, if any mountains open new terrain today, you’ll find deep powder from the accumulation during the previous days.

The rest of this week should be dry for most of Colorado as the storm track retreats to the north. The very northern mountains may see times of clouds and light snow but I doubt we’ll see real accumulations.

Extended Forecast

The forecast through the weekend shows that most of the snow will stay well to the north of Colorado, in Wyoming and Montana.

The American GFS weather model drops some snow into northern and eastern Colorado on Saturday night and Sunday, then dries us out for most of next week.

The European weather model (below) is different. It also shows the snow to our north but does not bring snow to Colorado on Saturday night. Instead, it brings a system through the central Rockies and into Colorado during the middle of next week.

The American GFS model has been oddly accurate at times this winter (I say ‘oddly’ because the American GFS model is NOT known for its accuracy!), so I cannot rule out some snow in the northern mountains on Saturday night into Sunday.

Also, it is far too soon to get excited about the European model’s forecast of snow next week because this model oddly has cried wolf a few times this season (I say 'oddly' because the European model IS known for its accuracy).

To sum up, enjoy the snow that we have, hope for some snow in the northern mountains on Saturday night and Sunday, and I’ll keep you posted if next week’s forecast continues to favor the European model and bring snow back to Colorado.

Thanks for reading!

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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