It might be the last week of April but it sure has felt like mid-winter! Here was the scene at Arapahoe Basin on Thursday. Photo credit to Dave Camara.

 

I was lapping the Pallavicini Lift from 9 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. and I can personally verify these phenomenal conditions. If you couldn't make it up this week, don't worry because we have snow continuing through the middle of next week.

Our next round of snow will begin to make its presence felt on Friday afternoon but unlike the last few days, this system will favor areas east of the divide for the best accumulations. Look for the snow machine to start cranking out periods of light to moderate snow through early Friday evening before it turns over to heavy snow on Friday night and into Saturday morning.

All road surfaces from Vail through Denver will turn over to an icy, slushy, and snow-packed mix from Friday evening through Saturday morning, with travel impacts from Georgetown through C-470. CDOT will continue to implement the passenger traction law so make sure your vehicle is prepared with snow/mud tires, AWD/4WD, and/or an alternative traction device. Give yourself extra travel time on Saturday morning and remember to always check CDOT for the latest updates.

CDOT Alerts: http://opsw.co/cdotalerts

Periods of light to moderate snow will then continue through Saturday before sunny skies prevail for the first half of Sunday. The high April sun angle will clear all road surfaces by Saturday afternoon but icy and snow-packed spots could still be encountered over Loveland and Berthoud Pass. 

Increasing clouds will return by Sunday evening. This will be followed by off-and-on snow showers for Monday, Tuesday, and into Wednesday. The road surfaces will become wet and slushy but travel speeds should stay close to normal.  

Looking further ahead, sunny skies and warm temperatures will return beginning on Thursday, May 4th. There are signs of storms returning after May 9th but it will become increasing difficult as we head deeper into spring. 

SAM COLLENTINE