Summary

Annnnnnnd, that's a wrap. Another 5 inches fell on Friday night at Abasin in the last wave of northwest flow, and now it looks like spring and summer will be here full time. From now on I'll be posting about once per week with some general weather updates, and more often if interesting weather is in the forecast. Thanks for a great season, and enjoy the snow at Abasin which should last into June:-)

Details

The final wave of energy and moisture passed through northern Colorado in northwest flow on Friday night. This was relatively well forecasted by the high resolution NAM 4km model. The webcam on Vail Pass around 9pm Friday night showed the snow falling:

Arapahoe Basin picked up 5 inches on Friday night with about 0.4 inches of snow-water equivalent, for a ratio of 12.5 inches of snow to 1 inch of liquid (12.5:1). That's pretty typical for late-season snow as temperatures were in the upper 20s on the slopes.

This snowfall concludes a stellar strech of 10 straight days of fresh snow at Arapahoe Basin, totalling 39 inches. 

In addition to the fresh powder, another good thing happened on Friday night as across the world the Triple 8 expedition reached the summit of Cho Oyo, an 8,201 meter (26,906 foot) peak close to Mt. Everest. I've been forecasting for them over the last three weeks, in touch daily via text message if you can believe it. 

They had plans to summit three 8,000 meter peaks, Cho Oyo, Everest, and Lhotse. But the climbing on the south side of Everest has stopped for the season due to respect for Sherpas who died in an icefall a few weeks ago as well as due to on-going tensions between the Sherpas and the Ministry of Tourism in Nepal. I don't know what their plan is, but even a single 8,000 meter peak is a fantastic accomplishment, especially for Matt Moniz who is still in high school! More here: http://www.climb7.com

Back to Colorado, the week ahead looks dry and warm over the mountains with afternoon thunderstorms over the foothills and eastern plains along and north of I-70. For the holiday weekend, these afternoon showers will continue on the plains and extend over the mountains, but they look more like a nuisance than a washout.

JOEL GRATZ