Colorado Daily Snow
By Joel Gratz, Founding Meteorologist Posted 6 years ago April 14, 2018
Recap and looking ahead to next two storms
Summary
Saturday morning’s clouds and snow showers will end by mid-morning, with mostly dry weather for the rest of the weekend. The next two storms will bring snow Tuesday and Tuesday night to the northern and central mountains, and Friday through Saturday for most mountains, maybe favoring the northern and eastern mountains.
Short Term Forecast
On Friday and Friday night, most mountains added 2-6 inches to Thursday night’s total, so you’ll find soft, fresh snow now on Saturday morning.
Below is the storm total from Thursday night through Saturday morning. My forecast was for roughly 2-5 inches each period of Thursday night, Friday, and Friday night, adding up to 6-15 inches. That worked out reasonably well, though the actual totals were somewhat higher on Thursday night and somewhat lower on Friday and Friday night.
Breckenridge – 12”
Red Mountain Pass – 10”
Steamboat – 10”
Snowmass – 9”
Aspen Mountain – 8”
Grand Mesa – 8”
Loveland – 8”
Winter Park – 7”
Arapahoe Basin – 6”
Beaver Creek – 6”
Copper – 4”
Vail – 4”
I was surprised that we did not get more snow on Friday and Friday night as snow showers were abundant, but actual accumulations were low. Perhaps the amount of moisture in the air was a little too low to produce higher snow totals … maybe that was the limiting factor.
Looking ahead, we’ll see sunshine break out for most areas on Saturday, then a weak, final wave of energy could bring light snow showers to the northern mountains on Saturday night.
Extended Forecast
Sunday and Monday will be dry and warm.
The next storm will hit Colorado on Tuesday, April 17th. The latest models slow this storm down just a bit, so it now looks like the brunt of the snow will fall between about Tuesday midday and Tuesday at midnight, with a total of 3-6 inches for the central and northern mountains. For mountains that are still open, this could translate to softer turns on Tuesday afternoon and again on Wednesday morning.
Next Wednesday and Thursday will then be dry.
I am still focused on the possible storm from Thursday night through Saturday, and it could produce hefty snow totals due to lots of moisture being pulled into Colorado from the sub-tropics and the Gulf of Mexico.
The issue is the exact track and speed of the storm.
If the storm moves further north and a bit faster, all mountains will see some snow with low-end powder on Friday and/or Saturday.
If the storm moves further south and a bit slower, all mountains will still see some snow, but we could see multi-foot totals in the mountains east of the divide and out to the eastern plains.
The graphic below shows the snow forecast for Friday from the last three runs of a model, each made 12 hours apart. There is not much consistency in the details of the forecast just yet!
The take-home point is to expect more snow from Thursday night through Saturday morning, with anything from a few inches of pow on Friday into Saturday to potential deepness east of the divide.
Stay tuned and thanks for reading!
JOEL GRATZ
Announcements
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
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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