Colorado Daily Snow

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By Joel Gratz, Founding Meteorologist Posted 4 years ago October 29, 2019

Light snow Tuesday, cold on Wednesday

Summary

The first storm ended around Monday midday, and then after a lull in the snow on Monday afternoon, the next storm started dropping flakes on Monday night and a few inches has accumulated by sunrise on Tuesday. Expect another few inches of fluffy accumulation on Tuesday, then Wednesday should be dry and very cold with temperatures in the single digits. For early November, we’ll be on the edge of the storm track and the edge of the cold air, and right now I do not see any significant storms in the next 7-10 days.

Short Term Forecast

As a quick recap, the first part of the storm, brought snow from Sunday afternoon through Monday sunrise, delivering about 2-7 inches for most spots.

The high-end exceptions to these numbers were not at ski areas. There were 14 inches in Evergreen (west of Denver), about 10 inches on Cottonwood Pass (north of Monarch, east of Crested Butte), and 12 inches in the town of Salida (east of Monarch).

Snow in Salida

Farther north at Steamboat, where they received about 6 inches on Sunday night, the lifts are not running, but there have been over four feet of snow during October so it's possible to earn your turns.

Following the 2-7 inches that fell on Sunday night, most mountains saw just a dusting to another inch on Monday morning as the storm pulled away. The southern mountains benefited a little more, with an additional 4 inches at Telluride and 6 inches at Wolf Creek.

After a break in the snow on Monday afternoon, the second part of the storm brought more flakes on Monday night with 1-3 inches of snow accumulating by sunrise on Tuesday.

Total snowfall from Sunday afternoon through Tuesday sunrise:
Breckenridge: 9”
Steamboat: 9”
Keystone: 8”
Vail: 8"
Monarch: 7”
Arapahoe Basin: 6”
Beaver Creek: 6”
Eldora: 6”
Rocky Mountain National Park: 6”
Telluride: 6”
Winter Park: 6”
Wolf Creek: 6”
Berthoud Pass: 5”
Cameron Pass: 5”
Loveland: 5”
Aspen Highlands: 4”
Aspen Mountain: 4”
Snowmass: 4”

For the rest of Tuesday, the storm should drop an additional 2-6 inches on most mountains. This storm will be cold, so a little bit of moisture will easily turn into a few fluffy inches of snow. However, the cold air and lack of moisture should limit snow totals to these moderate amounts.

Tuesday night should bring the end of the snow and the beginning of very cold air. Tuesday’s high temperatures in the teens will be replaced on Tuesday night by temperatures near or below 0°F, and highs on Wednesday will only be in the single digits despite some sunshine.

Then we’ll see warming to more comfortable temperatures on Thursday and Friday with highs rising into the 20s.

Extended Forecast

I do not see any significant storms during the first 7-10 days of November.

What I do see is that we’ll be on the edge of the storm track and colder air, which will mostly hit areas to the east of Colorado.

Since the storm track will be close by, we may see occasional pushes colder air and limited moisture in the northeastern mountains, especially on Friday, November 1st and Monday, November 4th. But I am expecting just flurries or very light snow showers during these days with limited or no accumulations.

The American GFS model is still hinting at the chance for a storm around November 7-9th, though this isn’t supported by most other models and even the GFS is waffling on this, so, for now, I’ll say that it’s a low chance.

The outcome of this forecast is that nighttime temperatures will be plenty cold enough for snowmaking at most mountains, so that will continue. And we’ll just hope for a return to stormier weather starting during the second or third week of November to add to the above-average snowpack that currently exists over northern and central Colorado.

Thanks for reading!

My next update will be on Wednesday morning.

JOEL GRATZ

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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

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.

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