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 December 29, 2017

Possibilities but few probabilities

Summary

The far northern mountains will see a brief period of snow on Saturday night. Otherwise, expect little to no accumulation through the first three days of 2018, and then snowfall is more likely starting on Thursday, January 4th and continuing through at least the second week of January.

Short Term Forecast

Good Friday morning to you. There are a few high-level clouds over the northern mountains, and temperatures are warmer than the past few days with readings in the upper 20s to low 30s.

The radar on Friday morning shows that an area of intense snowfall is located about 600 miles to our north, centered over Washington, northern Idaho, and Montana.

Here in Colorado, following dry weather on Friday and Saturday, the area of storminess to our north will sag south and will bring flakes to the northern mountains.

Unfortunately, on Saturday night, the jet stream will not quite make it far enough south to move over Colorado and will instead stay about 200 miles to our north.

With little energy from the jet stream, snowfall on Saturday night should be confined to extreme northern Colorado at areas like Steamboat, Cameron Pass, the Never Summer mountains, and Rocky Mountain National Park, which all have the best chance for 1-3 inches of snow.

The model shown in the graphic above usually forecasts too much snow, so those pink areas showing 8+ inches are very unlikely to verify. Also, it is possible that mountains along I-70 will see a few flakes and maybe a coating to an inch, but more significant totals are unlikely unless the storm drops further south (possible, but again, unlikely).

Extended Forecast

Our sunny and dry weather should continue from Sunday through the first few days of 2018. The only noticeable change will be cooler temperatures on Sunday, following the system on Saturday night.

For many days, we have talked about a stormier pattern setting up between about January 5-10. This stormy weather is still on the table as a flow of moisture could push multiple rounds of snow into the central-west and the southwestern US.

It appears that our first chance for snow will be on Thursday, January 4th, and then there should be multiple chances for snow after that, through at least the second full week of January.

Should we expect strong storms? Weak storms? Warmer temperatures? Colder temperatures? I have no idea, but at least most of the models show action returning to our part of the US. I’ll take it.

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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