Snowmobile Stoke

I’ve received many emails this season reminding me that it’s not just skiers and riders that like powder. Here’s a recent picture of a snowmobiler in the central mountains!

Storm #1 – Tuesday night to Wednesday night

In the southern and central mountains, snow started on Tuesday evening and it will continue through Wednesday midday or afternoon. Snow totals on Wednesday at 500am, via snow stake cams and SNOTEL, already show enough snow for powder on Wednesday!

Wolf Creek: 6”+
Purgatory 6”
Telluride: 3”
Crested Butte 2”

Temperatures are generally in the 20s, so this snow is likely a bit on the thicker side, which should feel surfy underfoot.

For the rest of the day, expect another 2-8 inches in the southern and central mountains with the most intense snow likely ending by early afternoon. In the northern mountains, we might see snow ramp up after noon through the evening as the wind swings around to blow more from the west (instead of the southwest) and accumulations could be 1-5 inches by midnight.

The map below shows the forecast precipitation from the HRRR model through about Wednesday midnight. Multiply by about 12 to estimate snowfall.

Storm #2 – Thursday night to Saturday morning

No big changes to this forecast. Snow will begin on Thursday evening in the southern and central mountains, be the most intense for these areas on Thursday night, and then become more intense over the northern and central mountains on Friday and Friday night as the wind swings around to blow from the northwest. Accumulations of 5-15 inches still looks like a good forecast with the best powder for most areas on Friday and also powder on Saturday morning for the northern mountains as northwest flow should bring some accumulation after the lifts close on Friday.

Total snowfall

The University of Utah multi-model ensemble shows how these two storms will impact the central mountains, around McClure Pass. Roughly 5 inches on Wednesday, about 10 inches on Friday, and then a dry weekend with another system next Tuesday.

The graphic above gives it away – after dry days on Saturday, Sunday, and early Monday, the next storm should arrive sometime later on Monday and bring snow through Tuesday. This system looks like it will have less moisture than the two storms this week, and its track may favor the northern and also eastern mountains.

We will be on the edge of the storm track from next week through the end of the month. This could mean multiple storms that favor the northern and eastern mountains, or maybe the brunt of these storms will just miss us to the east, or maybe the storm track will slide a bit further west and we’ll see more snow. Still plenty of uncertainty, and also good potential.

Thanks for reading!

My next update will be on Thursday, January 17.

JOEL GRATZ

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