Colorado Daily Snow

Summary

Friday was a fantastic powder day for most mountains with 10-15 inches on average across the state (Steamboat was close to 30”). Additional snow fell at some northern mountains on Friday night so Saturday morning will be fluffy for these areas. Looking ahead, the next storm will bring 3-6 inches on Monday afternoon and night with the best powder on Tuesday morning. Then the northern mountains will be clipped by a few storms around the end of the week.

Short Term Forecast

Friday powder recap

Storm totals were in the 10-15 inch range for most mountains.

The southern and central mountains and Steamboat started Friday with deep powder, and for areas that didn’t get a lot of snow on Thursday night, the snow fell through the day with 5-15 inches of accumulation.

The deepest storm total of 26-32 inches was at Steamboat. The CAIC WRF 2km model did show this amount of snow at Steamboat, but I discounted it because the model can over-forecast snow at times, especially with moist storms. In this case, it was right on! Below is the Steamboat snow stake on Friday. Notice how the depth of the snow in the trees around the stake increases through the storm!

Freeze frame of the Steamboat summit cam on Saturday morning. When totals get as high as 26-32 inches, not all of this is captured by the snow stake, but I do trust the 26-32 inch official measurement as locals reported this much snow as well!

Another picture from Steamboat. Perfect trees!

Let’s continue the photo tour from north to south.

Loveland’s snow stake looked great on Friday afternoon.

Copper Mountain fluff.

Vail Mountain got deep on Friday and more snow fell on Friday night.

Crested Butte had a great powder day on Friday morning.

Telluride saw snow on Thursday night and all day on Friday. Northwest flow does well for Telluride and Silverton as they are on the northern end of the southern mountains.

Purgatory was deep.

And Sven is a great ski model, showing off the snow at Purg.

Lastly, just a reminder, if you download our OpenSnow app for iOS and Android, you can set snow report alerts and your phone can quickly show you the goods on a powder morning. This was my phone on Friday morning (remember that a lot of snow fell during the day on Friday and these were the amount at 5 am).

Saturday AM Freshies

About 3-5 inches of fluffy snow fell on Friday night at some northern mountains, so the conditions will be deep and soft on Saturday morning. Get after it (and do so early – it’s the holiday weekend and a lot of people will be out!).

Next Powder on Tuesday AM

Following a dry weekend (maybe a few clouds and flurries lingering in the northern mountains), the next storm will bring snow from Monday midday through Tuesday early morning. I think 3-6 inches continues to be a reasonable forecast for this system, and the best powder will be on Tuesday’s first chair. This storm will be colder than Friday’s storm, so the snow will be our typical fluff, though the cold temperatures also mean limited moisture, which should keep snow totals in the 3-6 inch range.

Extended Forecast

Tuesday should be dry, then systems will clip northern Colorado from Wednesday through late next week or even through the weekend. These storms could favor additional snow for the far northern mountains and the cold air and limited moisture should keep snow totals on the lower end. Still, multiple days of light snowfall can create fun conditions.

While the northern mountains may be clipped by light snow at times, the majority of the state should see low to no snow accumulation from about Jan 25 through early February. Then in early February, most models show that the weather pattern should change somewhat, so we could see another state-wide storm then. Of course, this is 12+ days away, so too soon to be confident in the details of the forecast.

Thanks for reading!

My next update will be on Sunday, January 20.

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, 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