Colorado Daily Snow

Heads up, there may be fresher snow! Read the latest Colorado Daily Snow

By Joel Gratz, Founding Meteorologist Posted 5 years ago September 19, 2018

Wednesday showers, then dry through the weekend

Summary

A quick surge of moisture will bring showers to Colorado’s mountains and eastern plains on Wednesday and Wednesday night. Then the moisture will shift east, leaving us with dry weather from Thursday through Sunday. Early next week, a few showers could return.

Short Term Forecast

The most interesting weather image on Wednesday is the water vapor satellite loop, which depicts a plume of moisture surging northward from Mexico to Colorado. The plume is shown by the grey and blue colors.

On Wednesday, this one-day moisture surge will bring clouds, cooler temperatures, and showers to Colorado. The showers will likely continue through Wednesday night as the moisture will not push east of Colorado until early on Thursday.

Once the moisture moves east, then we’ll be back to dry weather on Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.

Extended Forecast

Temperatures for the next five days (Sep 19-23) will be warmer than average over Colorado, while cool weather (and additional snow) holds over western Canada.

For the next five days (Sep 24-28), a storm will bring light snow and autumn-like temperatures to the Northern Rockies, Colorado's far northern mountains, and Colorado's eastern plains.

This means that next Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday could all have a few showers, mostly over the northern and eastern mountains and plains. Unfortunately, this storm will be on the drier side and the majority of its energy will stay to the north of Colorado, so it will not be an impactful system for us.

After the storm early next week, the final few days of September and early October will be warm over western Colorado and cool over eastern Colorado.

With the pattern shown above for the 10-15 day forecast, it likely means that any storms would slide down the east side of the Rockies on their way into the eastern United States. That would leave Colorado mostly dry, with the best chance for any rain/snow and cooler temperatures near and east of the mountains.

The 15-day snowfall outlook, which is the average of 51 model versions, agrees that the best chance for snow will be near and east of the continental divide.

In short, the long-range forecast is for more of the same warm and dry weather that we’ve seen for the last two weeks, with the exception of a brief cool shot and some showers early next week.

Thanks for reading … next update on Friday, September 21!

JOEL GRATZ

Announcements

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)

Upcoming Presentations

* September 20 in Boulder. Part of Ignite Boulder. Details & tickets here.

* September 27 in Aspen. 630-830pm at Encoding.com. Details and RSVP

* October 18 in Colorado Springs. More details soon.

* Early November in Summit County. More details soon.

* Early November in Boulder. More details soon.

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.

Free OpenSnow App