Colorado Daily Snow
By Joel Gratz, Founding Meteorologist Posted 4 years ago November 10, 2019
Monday morning dusting, more action possible next week
Summary
Light snow should fall over the northeastern mountains on Sunday night into Monday morning with accumulations between a dusting to three inches. It's not much, but it’s something. Otherwise, the week will be mostly quiet with the coolest temperatures on Monday and Thursday. I am keeping an eye on November 16-20th as a range of time when we might see one or two storms come close to Colorado.
Short Term Forecast
While our goal is usually to find the deepest powder, skiing under sunny blue skies and in warm temperatures is also pretty fun.
That describes this weekend, as high temperatures rose into the 40s to low 50s at most mountains. I took advantage of the warmth to bring my 2-year-old son out to the hill. At that age, the goal is to find a comfortable day to enjoy the mountains!
The next storm will be a quick hitter, arriving on Sunday evening and leaving by Monday late morning. The system will brush the northeastern corner of Colorado, so most of the snow will be confined to the northern and eastern mountains. Most mountains will see a dusting to an inch. Mountains near and east of the divide have a shot at 1-3 inches (Eldora, Rocky Mountain National Park, Cameron Pass).
While Sunday night’s snowfall will not be that impressive, the storm will drop temperatures back into the 20s and 30s on Monday with overnight lows in the teens. This will help snowmaking efforts.
The rest of the week should be mostly dry with another storm brushing by northeastern Colorado on Wednesday night. The outcome of this storm will be similar to the Sunday night storm where the northeastern mountains could see a few flakes and all mountains will be treated to cooler air on Thursday.
Extended Forecast
After about 10 days of forecasts where I could not offer any possibility of significant storms in the long-range forecast, the good news is that all models are now showing a chance that multiple storms could track close to Colorado between November 16-20th.
More specifically, I am focused on the time around November 19th.
While the traditionally-move-accurate European model only gives a weak hint for a storm around Colorado…
…the not-to-be-discounted Canadian model gives a stronger hint for a storm.
And the sometimes-overzealous American GFS model is on board the storm train, though don’t get too excited yet.
We are still 7-10 days away from this period of potentially stormy weather, and that’s on the edge of when we can have confidence in the forecast for an individual storm. So let’s keep our expectations in check for now, but at least we have something to talk about!
Thanks for reading!
My next update will be on Monday morning.
JOEL GRATZ
PS – I hope to see some of you at one of my upcoming talks listed below!
Announcements
Upcoming talks
These talks are usually 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 as they are available.
* Nederland: Nov 12 @ Salto Coffee / Tin Shed Sports
- 300-600pm: Happy Hour
- 600-605pm: Eldora News and Intros
- 605-615pm: POW Presentation (Kerstin Ulf)
- 615-645pm: OpenSnow Presentation (Joel Gratz)
- 645-700pm: Q&A with Kerstin & Joel
- More details
* Denver: Nov 14 @ Denver Athletic Club
- Show up before 600pm to check-in and grab a drink
- Talk starts at 600pm
- $5 entry fee gets you a beer and snacks
- Must register here
* Wheat Ridge: Nov 19 @ Downriver Equipment
* Evergreen: Nov 21 @ Boone Mountain Sports
* Breckenridge: Dec 6 @ Colorado Mountain College Breckenridge
* Basalt: Dec 12 @ Bristlecone Mountain Sports
Plug for the 12th Annual CAIC Benefit Bash
- November 23rd at the Breckenridge Riverwalk Center
- The biggest fundraiser of the year for CAIC
- LOTS of prizes, awesome live music, silent and live auctions, dinner, and drinks
- Win skis, splitboards, packs, and more
- Get your ticket today!
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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