The weekend storm peaked on Sunday and dropped intense snow across Colorado. On Sunday morning, I saw reports of snowfall rates of 3-5 inches per hour both in the northeastern foothills and in the southern mountains around Telluride. That snowfall intensity is rare and something amazing to see.

Below are the snow totals from Saturday morning through Monday morning. The first number is the total, the second number is the 24-hour amount from Saturday AM to Sunday AM and the third number is the 24-hour amount from Sunday AM to Monday AM.

Northern Mountains
24" (12+12) Eldora (estimate, could be more based on the snow stake)
22" (8+14) Winter Park
12" (10+2) Cooper
12" (8+4) Copper
12" (6+6) Loveland
11" (7+4) Beaver Creek
11" (5+6) Keystone
11" (6+5) Vail (Blue Sky Basin)
10" (4+6) Arapahoe Basin
10" (8+2) Breckenridge
8" (5+3) Steamboat
6" (3+3) Vail (mid-mountain)

Central Mountains
24" (11+13) Monarch
21" (10+11) Aspen Highlands
18" (12+6) Aspen Mountain
18" (8+10) Irwin
18" (8+10) Snowmass
12" (9+3) Buttermilk
12" (5+7) Sunlight
9" (6+3) Powderhorn (might be higher, conflicting reports)
5" (4+1) Crested Butte

Southern Mountains
27" (16+11) Telluride
24" (15+9) Wolf Creek
14" (9+5) Cuchara
4" (1+3) Silverton
3" (2+1) Purgatory

This was clearly the storm of the year for Telluride with over two feet of accumulation with most of that coming on Saturday night into Sunday morning. From a powder perspective, it doesn't get much better than this!

In the northeastern foothills, snowfall rates were silly on Sunday morning and the snow stake cam at Eldora got buried in just a few hours.

Guys...this snowstake time lapse cam from @eldoramtnresort is crazy. #Frontrange snowstorms are the real deal. @findOpenSnow pic.twitter.com/5yyuyBiPTl

— Derek Van Dam (@VanDamCNN) March 14, 2021

The deepest totals in Colorado of 30-40 inches were in the northeastern foothills between about 7,000-10,000. That's enough snow to make the grassy slopes of the foothills skiable!

There were powder pics flying around from all mountains and here's another one from Copper.

The upside surprises from this storm were the Aspen area with 18-21 inches (luck may have played a role as I talked about the localized westerly wind direction yesterday) as well as Wolf Creek with a storm total of two feet (southwest winds held on...I should learn that this happens more than the models expect). The downside surprises from this storm were the mountains of Summit County where I thought we'd get close to two feet and actual totals were about half of that (they may have been just a bit too far south as just to the north at Winter Park snow did spill over the divide and drop nearly two feet).

Now on Monday morning, the snow is still going over the northern San Juans and over many central and northern mountains as the last wave of snow on the backside of the storm moves from west-to-east across Colorado. There could be a couple of inches of fluffy accumulation through Monday mid-morning to midday before the snow finally comes to an end.

From Monday afternoon to Tuesday morning, expect a brief period of dry weather.

We'll see the next storm drop snow from Tuesday midday through Wednesday mid-morning. This storm will track near the southern border of Colorado and will initially bring winds from the south and east. Then on Tuesday night, the wind direction will shift to blow from the west and northwest. While there could be a few soft turns on Tuesday late afternoon, the likely best time to enjoy powder will be on Wednesday morning's first chair. Snow totals should be 2-5 inches in the northern and central mountains and 4-10 inches in the southern mountains. 

From Wednesday midday through Saturday, our weather pattern will flip back to dry and warm with a springtime feel in the air.

Following those few days of warmth, we'll then swing back to a stormier pattern with snow possible between Sunday, March 21, and Wednesday, March 24. I have higher confidence that we'll see snow on Sunday into Monday, and lower confidence about what will happen on Tuesday into Wednesday. For the latter two days, some models show a secondary storm swooping in from the northwest, while other models show no secondary storm as the primary storm dives far south into New Mexico and Mexico and leaves us with dry weather through midweek.

Thanks for reading!

JOEL GRATZ

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Geography Key

Northern Mountains
Steamboat, Bluebird Backcountry, Granby, Beaver Creek, Vail, Ski Cooper, Copper, Breckenridge, Keystone, Loveland, Arapahoe Basin, 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