The Colorado Daily Snow

Summary

Snow amounts on Sunday morning ranged from 1-5 inches for most northern mountains. Not a big powder day, but good to have fresh snow. The weather through Wednesday will be dry and mostly sunny, then our next storm should bring at least a few inches on Thursday, with another storm possible during the upcoming weekend.

Short Term Forecast

This Colorado Daily Snow will be updated by fellow forecaster Sam Collentine from Monday, Nov 19 through Saturday, Nov 24. I am on a rare offline vacation with family and will be back on Sunday, Nov 25th. - Joel Gratz

Recap of Saturday snow

We have been talking about this weak system for many days and it arrived about as expected on Saturday afternoon and evening.

The radar on Saturday night showed the brunt of the precipitation to our east with the western tail of the storm just brushing northern and central Colorado.

Mountain cams and backcountry SNOTEL sites show 1-3 inches around Aspen in the central mountains and between 2-5 inches for most mountains near and north of I-70.

Steamboat was one location with a higher-end total as their summit snow stake cam came in at about 4 inches.

The winner of the storm was the foothill areas east of the divide and north of I-70 as SNOTEL sites showed roughly 4-7 inches. This area includes Eldora and Rocky Mountain National Park.

All of these amounts are enough to add to our base and provide a bit of powder or at least softer conditions on Sunday morning.

Getting after it

The following photos are from last weekend send in by a duo that hiked and skied around James Peak along the divide north of I-70. At these high elevations in the northern mountains, the wind is usually whipping, which you can tell from the snow surface in this first image…

And more images from around James Peak: snow devil (better than a dust devil)!

Gorgeous sunrise shot (and you can see the snow blowing in the strong wind).

If you are in the backcountry, please make sure that you are educated about the avalanche risk via educational courses and reading the avalanche forecast from CAIC and CBAC.

Sunday through Wednesday

Dry each day with lots of sun (more clouds Wednesday) and comfortable high temperatures in the 30s. Overnight lows will be cold enough for continued snowmaking.

Extended Forecast

The next storm will arrive on Thanksgiving Day and should bring at least a few inches of snow to most mountains with low-end powder possible late on Thursday or more likely early on Friday.

The second storm should arrive during the upcoming weekend. This storm could be stronger than the Thanksgiving Day storm, though there is a lot of uncertainty about its track, so it is still too soon to get really excited about the possibility for weekend powder. Stay tuned.

Based on trends so far this season (storminess during late/early each month) and the forecast for the MJO to return to a good phase for storminess in Colorado in late November and early December, I feel pretty good that we’ll have more solid storms on the way, but again, I can’t offer any specifics.

Thanks for reading!

As I mentioned at the start of this post, Sam Collentine will be filling in for me through Thanksgiving week, and his next update will be on Monday, November 18.

JOEL GRATZ

Announcements

My upcoming presentations about the winter forecast and tips for chasing pow! 

* November 28 in Vail at Walking Mountains Science Center. Free to attend. The talk starts at 630pm. Please RSVP here.

* December 5 in Denver at the Denver Athletic Club. More details soon.

 

 OpenSummit

We have an iPhone app that provides detailed weather forecasts for your hiking, biking, and climbing adventures. OpenSummit now includes forecasts for 1,000 of the highest and/or notable summits and hiking areas across the United States. Download OpenSummit (iPhone only)

 

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, Arapahoe Basin, 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

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