Summary:

Dry Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday. Clouds increase Wednesday with light snow in the afternoon, then steadier and heavier snow Wednesday night through Friday morning with 6-12 inches for most mountains. Thursday all day and Friday morning should be good powder days. Next weekend will be dry, the another storm is likely around Monday/Tuesday March 31st/April 1st.

Details:

Saturday's band of snow moved through about as expected with most areas seeing 4-5 inches over 4-5 hours. A few spots reported more, like Vail and Beaver Creek with 7 inches and Snowmass with 6 inches. 

Dry weather will dominate Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday, with the only exception being north of I-70 along the divide where wind and a few snow showers will hit on Sunday night and Monday morning as a storm passes to the north of Colorado.

The next storm will bring snow from Wednesday night through Friday morning, and it should be a significant storm with more than 6 inches of snow, and perhaps a foot in some areas.

While clouds and a few snow showers will arrive during the day on Wednesday, the brunt of the storm will hit on Wednesday night. If the storm is as strong as advertised by the often-more-accurate European model, Silverton, Durango, and Wolf Creek should see the heaviest snow on Wednesday night with southwest winds.

On Thursday, the winds will switch to blow from the west or west-northwest, which should move the better accumulations to the central and northern mountains. This wind direction should continue to bring snow to the central and especially northern mountains (along and north of I-70) on Thursday night.

It's likely that Thursday will be a powder day, with Friday morning offering even softer and deeper turns in the northern mountains along and north of I-70. With the high sun angle during March, most slopes that face east, south, and west are crunchy with a melt-freeze crust, so it takes 8+ inches in a day or perhaps two days of 6+ inches to soften them up. The potential extra night of snow on Thursday night for northern Colorado is why I think Friday morning might be even better than Thursday.

Total forecasted precipitation from Wednesday night through Friday morning by the American GFS model. Parts of Colorado could received 0.5-1.0 inches of precipitation, which equates to about 6-12+ inches of snow. Source: Twisterdata.com

By Friday afternoon it looks like the snow will be done for all areas, and next weekend will be dry.

Long Range:

The week of March 31st looks active with two storms, though it's far too early to pin down the timing and strength of the systems. One looks to hit early in the week (March 31st or April 1st), and another is possible late in the week (April 3-4th, ish).

JOEL GRATZ

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