Colorado Daily Snow

Heads up, there may be fresher snow! Read the latest Colorado Daily Snow

By Joel Gratz, Founding Meteorologist Posted 2 years ago April 4, 2021

Warm through Monday, cooler with snow on Tuesday into Wednesday

Summary

Sunday will be warm though we'll see more clouds and maybe a brief shower. Monday will be warm, sunny, and dry. On Tuesday, expect a change in the weather with gusty winds, cooler temperatures, and a few inches of snow through Wednesday morning. Then we should see drier weather for about one week, with a higher chance for snow around April 14-17.

Short Term Forecast

Saturday was absolutely gorgeous with sunny skies and very warm temperatures that rose to near 50 degrees at many mountains with some 60s near base areas.

Sunday will also be warm, but clouds and a few after raindrops or snowflakes will interrupt the party just a little bit (this will not ruin the day). On Sunday morning, the satellite image shows clouds over Utah, and these clouds will push east over Colorado during the day.

Monday will be the last very warm day. Once again we'll see plenty of sunshine and high temperatures in the 40s and 50s.

Tuesday and Wednesday will be cooler, windier, and we'll also see some snow.

On Tuesday, we could see some snow, but the bigger story will likely be gusty winds that will reach 30-50mph during the midday and afternoon.

Then Tuesday night is when we'll have the best chance for a few inches of snow over the northern mountains. Most models are now in agreement that areas near and north of I-70 will have the best chance for 1-4 inches of snow accumulation on Tuesday night and this should mean a little bit of surfy powder to start off Wednesday morning. The best chance for the higher-end accumulations could be around Steamboat and along the divide from Cameron Pass to Rocky Mountain National Park to Winter Park, Loveland, and Arapahoe Basin.

The four major models above are all in general agreement that the northern mountains will have the best chance for a few inches of snow on Tuesday night into Wednesday morning. What a fun stretch of weather…a few super warm days, and then maybe a little bit of powder. You have to love springtime in Colorado!

Extended Forecast

From Thursday, April 8 through Tuesday, April 13, it looks like there will be one or two storms that will track close to Colorado, though these storms should stay to our north and will likely not produce much or any snow. There is a chance that one of these systems drops some snow, but right now I'll stick with a drier forecast with moderately warm temperatures (highs in the 40s), some sunshine, and times of gusty winds.

Looking further ahead, there is now a general consensus among the longer-range models that sometime between Wednesday, April 14, to Saturday, April 17 could bring a day or two of significant snowfall to many mountains. The map below is the average snow forecast from 51 versions of the European ECWMF forecast model. When the average of the 10-14 day forecast across 51 model versions shows a bullseye of snow over Colorado, that's enough to pique my attention. And for what it's worth, the average of many versions of the American GFS forecast model shows a similar picture.

I'll be watching April 14-17th pretty closely to see if this storm comes to fruition.

Kids ski!

I asked parents to send me a few pictures of them skiing with their daughters since I had posted a lot of father-son pictures and wanted to mix it up. I now have many new pictures to post and I'll do so during the next few days and weeks.

Here are Leah and Toby enjoying powder in the trees at Keystone!

Thanks for reading!

JOEL GRATZ

Announcements

New Book!

There is a new book called "Hunting Powder: A Skier's Guide to Finding Colorado's Best Snow" and I think it's a great read for you if you are somewhat of a geek about snow and weather forecasting here in Colorado and looking to deepen your knowledge about meteorology and finding deep snow. This book is somewhere between a textbook and a 'what you need to know' guide to forecasting and I am mentioning it here because I reviewed the book and wrote the forward:-) Check out more details and please do consider buying a copy: http://opsw.co/HuntingPowder

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

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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