Colorado Daily Snow

Summary

A final round of snow hit Colorado on the night of April 30 with 24-hour snow totals on May 1st coming in at 4-12 inches, and snow will continue to fall through Wednesday late morning adding 1-6 inches to these totals. May 2-7 should be mostly dry, then another storm could deliver snow between May 8-10. This will be my final post of the season – thanks so much for reading this year and please scroll to the bottom for updates about OpenSnow and OpenSummit during the spring and summer!

Short Term Forecast

Season Wrap-Up

I wrote my season wrap-up post on Wednesday, April 24. To see my favorite pictures and snowpack maps, click over to that post: https://opensnow.com/dailysnow/colorado/post/15303

Wednesday Morning

Tuesday brought some sun, some clouds, and some showers. Then intense snow arrived late on Tuesday night and we are seeing snow showers continue through now on Wednesday morning.

Below are the 24-hour snow totals from Tuesday morning to Wednesday morning, with nearly all of this snow falling on Tuesday night into Wednesday morning.

Open Resorts
Arapahoe Basin: 4”
Breckenridge: 4”
Loveland: 4”
Winter Park: 4”

Backcountry & Closed Areas
Schofield Pass (between Aspen & Crested Butte): 11”
Aspen Highlands (closed): 8-12”
Steamboat (closed): 9”
Snowmass (closed): 6-9”
Vail (closed): 4”
Copper (closed): 3”

Going into the storm on Tuesday night, I was looking for 6-15 inches by the time the snow ends on Wednesday late morning. We are almost to that range, and the snow is not over.

The radar animation from 330am - 500am on Wednesday morning shows that the band of snow is still draped across Colorado.

And two high-resolution models show that 1-6 inches should fall between Wednesday 500am through Wednesday midday.

This is the CAIC 2km WRF model.

And this is the HRRR (High-Resolution Rapid Refresh) model.

A notable aspect of this morning (Wednesday) is that temperatures at 10,000-11,000 feet are about 20F, which is 5F colder than readings on Tuesday morning. This means that while the snow quality will still be thick, dense, and surfy, it should be a little lighter and more fun compared to Tuesday.

You can see from the totals above that the most snow on Tuesday night fell on mountains that are closed for the season, with 4 inches at the mountains that are still open. This was somewhat shown in the model runs from yesterday, though I found it hard to believe that the band of intense snow would hit the northern mountains (Steamboat) and the central mountains (Aspen area) without hitting the I-70 region. It seems that this is what happened. No matter, 4+ inches of overnight powder is still fun, especially on May 1!

This latest snow brings our three-day (Sunday – Wednesday) storm total to 10-25 inches for most mountains, which is a good haul for late April and early May!

Extended Forecast

From Thursday, May 2 through Tuesday, May 7, enjoy dry weather and high temperatures in the 40s.

From Wednesday, May 8 through Friday, May 10, all models still show the chance for snow. Temperatures will be warm, like this storm, so any snow that falls will be on the thicker side. And right now, most models are trending toward the most precipitation falling near and east of the continental divide.

Now, a few quick updates to close out the season.

Final Post

This is my last post of the season. I love snow and weather, though I also need a break from daily posts to recharge for next season. Thanks so much for reading and for your support of myself and OpenSnow!

One Subscription = OpenSnow + OpenSummit

We just made this change on April 30. Now, your $19/year OpenSnow All-Access subscription ALSO gets you All-Access for OpenSummit, our summertime app for hiking and biking weather. One login and one subscription now works on both OpenSnow and OpenSummit. More details about ONE subscription.

OpenSummit

OpenSummit is our summer app that has 5-day hourly forecasts of precipitation, lightning, temperature, and wind for the 1,000 highest and most notable mountains around the USA. OpenSummit is an iPhone app right now (May 1, 2019) and we will offer a website and Android app by the end of May 2019. More details about OpenSummit.

OpenSnow

Even without Daily Snow Posts (like this one), the hourly and 10-day forecasts for each mountain will continue to be updated every day, so of course, feel free to use our OpenSnow website and app for your spring skiing adventures!

Thanks for reading and for your support, and see you in the fall!

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