The snowstorm that we enjoyed here in Colorado on Thursday is now spinning over the upper-midwest on Friday.

Since the snowfall has ended, let's take a look at total amounts.

Total snowfall from Wednesday, October 9 – Thursday, October 10

Vail: 10”
Winter Park: 10”
Beaver Creek: 9”
Keystone: 8”
Steamboat: 8”
Arapahoe Basin: 6-8”
Copper: 6-8” (estimate)
Snowmass: 6-8”
Rocky Mountain National Park: 7”
Aspen Mountain: 6”
Cameron Pass: 5”
Loveland: 5”

Prior to the storm, I was forecasting a 4-8 inch range for the northern mountains and 2-4 inches for the central mountains. This worked out pretty well, though a few northern mountains measured up to 9-10 inches, and also, the Aspen area (central mountains) recorded more snow than I expected with automated on-mountain measurements of 6-8 inches instead of my expected 2-4 inches. The narrow band of intense snow that hit the northern mountains extended far enough south to hit Aspen as well, which was the reason they came in with higher-than-expected totals.

Let’s enjoy some pictures, ordered by most snowfall.

Vail’s mid-mountain stake recorded 4” by Thursday at 5 am and another 6” by Thursday at noon for a total of 10”.

Winter Park also recorded 10”.

Beaver Creek recorded 3” by Thursday at 5 am and another 6” by Thursday at noon for a total of 9”.

Keystone came in with 8”.

Arapahoe Basin was in the 6-8” range.

Copper was also in the 6-8” range, as best as I can estimate based on the mid-mountain SNOTEL site.

Loveland’s stake measured 5”.

And Telluride, in the southern mountains, received just a dusting, but what a beautiful dusting it was!

And that’s a wrap for this storm.

Looking ahead, Friday will be dry and we’ll stay dry for about one week. Temperatures will slowly warm over the next few days, but there is a signal that another storm will arrive around Sunday, October 20th.

We’ve been talking for the last few days about how Super Typhoon Hagibis, nearing Japan, will curve to the north, and then head east, and will likely bring a storm to the western United States around October 20th.

And this thinking has not changed, as all models continue to agree that the dry and calm weather we’ll see during the middle of next week around Wednesday, October 16th…

…will be replaced with a storm starting on or around Sunday, October 20th.

It’s irresponsible to use one version of one model to forecast exact weather conditions 7-10 days away, so we average multiple model versions for our 10-day forecast. The Colorado comparison page on OpenSnow.com (which is also available on our iPhone and Android apps) is now starting to show hints of the storm leading up to October 20th.

I’ll be watching our forecast and the models evolve and will post my next update on Monday, October 14th, when I hope that we will know a few more details about the next storm.

Thanks for reading and I hope that you have a wonderful weekend!

JOEL GRATZ

Upcoming talks

These talks usually range from 30-45 minutes and allow me to show a little of the science behind snow forecasting, have some fun, and answer lots of questions. I’ll post details about each talk soon.

Boulder: Oct 24 @ Neptune Mountaineering

Golden: Oct 30 @ Powder7

Frisco: Nov 8 @ Highside Brewery

Nederland: Nov 12 @ Salto Coffee / Tin Shed Sports

Denver: Nov 14 @ Denver Athletic Club

Evergreen: Nov 21 @ Boone Mountain Sports

Breckenridge: Dec 6 @ Colorado Mountain College Breckenridge

Basalt: Dec 12 @ Bristlecone Mountain Sports

If you have a venue in a town not listed above and would like for me to give a presentation this fall, send me an email ([email protected]).

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