It's been a gorgeous start to the holiday week, with clear skies and temperatures topping out in the mid-to-upper 30s on the mountains. Tuesday's satellite imagery provided a beautiful shot of the snow-capped peaks across Colorado.

We'll now receive our warmest day of the week on Wednesday ahead of the real fun through Thanksgiving weekend. Look for temps to top out in the upper 30s to low 40s at mid-mountain for most areas. 

Increasing clouds on Wednesday night and into Thursday morning will then be the signal for our first round of snow on Thursday evening into Thursday night. This storm will start with mild, southwesterly flow so don't be caught off guard by a few raindrops below 8,000 feet through Thursday afternoon. 

The cold front from storm #1 will arrive on Thursday evening and bring most locations a quick period of moderate to heavy snow through Thursday night. Overall, this storm starts too warm and is moving too quickly to produce higher totals but look for 2-6 inches by Friday morning. 

The northern and central mountains could then see snow showers linger through much of Friday ahead of the second and stronger storm from Friday night through Sunday morning. 

There aren't many changes compared to the previous day's forecasts as we should be locked in for a healthy snow event to end the holiday weekend. Periods of light snow will fall through Friday night ahead of a strong cold front and very heavy snow on Saturday.

This storm will favor the northern and central mountains, with slightly lower amounts for the southern mountains. Below is a look at the latest ensemble snow forecast for Cameron Pass in northern Colorado and McClure Pass in central Colorado.

Both models continue to show a strong signal for double-digits totals through the weekend and the model below, also courtesy of the University of Utah, details the probability of 6 inches, 12 inches, and 24 inches for the Colorado high country. 

The middle graphic shows great confidence for total accumulations of > 12 inches from both systems for the majority of northern and central Colorado. 

Bringing all of this together, when should you go skiing?

Thanksgiving day will offer mild temps and partly to mostly cloudy skies ahead of storm #1. Friday morning should offer good turns thanks to the refresh on Thursday night but it will be right on the edge for legit powder turns. Saturday will be a storm skiing day and we'll have to watch for lift closures due to very strong winds as the storm roars overhead. Sunday morning will be cold but this would be my choice for the best skiing of the weekend. 

In total, look for 5-10 inches in the southern mountains and 6-12+ inches in the central and northern mountains from Friday night through Sunday morning. 

Periods of light snow will likely linger into Sunday morning for the northern mountains before dry conditions prevail into early next week. 

It's hard to put too much focus on the extended forecast due to all of the excitement over Thanksgiving weekend but after a quiet start to the week, active weather will look to continue into the final days of November and early December. 

We'll have plenty of time to work out the details but it looks promising for Colorado to continue this tremendous start to the 2018-2019 season.

Thanks for reading and look for my next update on Thursday, November 22nd!

SAM COLLENTINE

I-70 Snow & Travel Forecast

If you're traveling along I-70 this winter, make sure to check out the I-70 Daily Snow for the latest snow and travel forecast. I discuss when you should be catching the next powder day and when you should avoid driving along the mountain corridor due to snow and traffic: https://opsw.co/I70Snow

New Website

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Joel's Upcoming Presentations

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 includes forecasts for 1,000 of the highest and/or notable summits and hiking areas across the United States.

Download OpenSummit (iPhone only)