The northern mountains of Colorado saw lots of snow around Christmas, but now the storm track has unfortunately pushed to the north, and nearly all of the precipitation through about January 2nd will fall to the north of Colorado.

Here is the precipitation forecast from an average of 51 versions of the European model, through January 2.

And from 21 versions of the American GFS model, through January 2.

When the average of 72 versions across two models shows nearly no precipitation, as much as I want to distrust these forecasts (and they can be wrong), the statistics say to bet on little or no snow.

You’ll notice in the graphics above that Colorado’s northern mountains are forecast to see a bit of precipitation. This will come in the form of a quick burst of light-to-moderate snow on Saturday night. Mountains near and east of the divide and near and north of I-70 should see some flakes, with anywhere from a coating to 3 inches. You might find soft turns on Sunday morning due to this new snow.

All models continue to show that storms will move closer to Colorado starting around January 5th (could be a few days earlier, but that’s a long shot). There are other climate factors (like the MJO = Madden-Julian Oscillation) that also point toward stormier weather starting around the second week of January.

I hope we do see snow return at that time, but since we are still ~9 days away, I can’t offer any details about which area of Colorado will see snow, and when it’ll come.

Check back on Friday morning for an updated look at Saturday night's snow, and what the newest model runs show for the second week of January.

Thanks for reading!

JOEL GRATZ

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