Good Thursday morning, and it's about as good as it gets for areas near and just south of I-70 with lots of snowfall during the past 36 hours and the snow is continuing now on Thursday morning.

Sometimes with nearly continuous snowfall, it's hard to keep track of snow totals, especially before resorts have opened.

But below are just two examples that I picked from snow stake cams that showed significant snow accumulations on Tuesday night, Wednesday, and Wednesday night.

Beaver Creek: 15" in ~36 hours

• 5" 5 am, Wed, Oct 26
• 4" 5 pm, Wed, Oct 26
• 6" 5 am, Thu, Oct 27

Here is the Beaver Creek snow stake as of Thursday @ 5 am showing the 10 inches that fell since Wednesday @ 5 am.

Snowmass: 19" in ~36 hours

• 2" 5 am, Wed, Oct 26
• 7" 5 pm, Wed, Oct 26
• 10" 5 am, Thu, Oct 27

Here is the Snowmass snow stake as of Thursday @ 5 am showing the 17 inches that fell since Wednesday @ 5 am (on the right) and the 10 inches that fell since Wednesday @ 5 pm (on the left).

While the two storms from Tuesday afternoon through Thursday were not super strong storms, they had the exact right combination of moisture and temperature and storm energy and wind direction to deliver 10-20 inches to mountains just on either side of the western zone of I-70. Most of the forecast models picked up on this possibility for significant snow (though some still underestimated the potential) and many of these mountains look like they are in mid-winter condition (though, the base is still relatively thin, so slide cautiously if you're heading out to earn early-season turns).

Elsewhere, the lone open resort is A-Basin, and here is an image from their base area on Thursday at about 230 am. I love seeing overnight cams that show individual snowflakes - that's when you know it's snowing at a pretty good rate.

And speaking of open resorts, Keystone announced that they will open on Friday, October 28. Their summit cam on Thursday at about 230am also showed a snowy scene which was a combination of natural snow and machine-made snow.

Snow through Thursday

Right now as of around sunrise on Thursday morning, snow is falling on most mountains across Colorado, and the snow will continue through late morning and midday, and then it'll shut off. The map below is the snow forecast from Thursday 5 am to Thursday 5 pm and the areas to watch are:

• Many mountains in the 2-4 inch range
  
  
• North side of the southern mountains in the 3-6 inch range (favorable winds from the north)
  
  
• Eastern side of the southern mountains, the eastern side of the Sawatch mountains, east of the divide, and the western side of the front range cities (favorable winds from the east)

The longer-range forecast shows a break in the snow and then storms returning.

Friday, Saturday, Sunday Monday

These four days will be mostly sunny, dry, and temperatures will be cold enough for efficient snowmaking at night (teens and 20s) and will rise into the 30s during the day.

Tuesday, Wednesday

These two days will be dry with maybe a few more clouds, and temperatures will be a little bit warmer with less efficient snowmaking at night (20s) and will rise to around 40°F during the day.

Thursday, Friday (Nov 3-4)

There is a high chance for a storm during these days with mountain snow potentially starting on Thursday and continuing into Friday. We'll talk about more details as the storm gets closer.

November 6-10

The average of three major longer-term models all show that the center of the storminess should be along the west coast between November 6-10. This generally means that the mountains along the west coast will have the best chance for snowfall, however, these west-coast storms should eventually track to the east and move near or over Colorado, so we will likely have at least some chances for additional snowfall as we head into the middle of November. 

Overall, we are in a pretty good spot with our base building and more storms in the forecast.

Thanks so much for reading!

JOEL GRATZ

PS - A few announcements are below.

Upcoming In-Person Presentations

Join me for in-person presentations this fall. These talks are fun (yes, powder science IS fun:-), and I'll discuss thoughts about the upcoming season and snow forecasting tips and tricks. Also, your attendance at many of these talks supports a local non-profit, so thank you for coming!

• Wed, Oct 26. Denver. Bug Theater (3654 Navajo St)
  - Thanks to everyone who came out, it was an awesome night!
  
  
• Thu, Nov 3. Boulder. Neptune Mountaineering (633 S Broadway)
  - 630pm Doors Open
  - 700pm Presentation by Joel Gratz
  - Raffle tickets sold to support SOS Outreach
  
  
• Wed, Nov 9. Golden. Powder7 (880 Brickyard Cir)
  - 700pm Doors Open
  - 730pm Presentation by Joel Gratz
  
  
• Fri, Dec 9. Basalt
  - Tentative date...standby for confirmation.

Forecast Anywhere

You can now get a forecast for any location (on land) across the globe, and you can save any of these "Custom Locations" as a favorite. 

Any "Custom Location" comes with estimated 24-hour snowfall. This means that you can set a "Custom Location" for your favorite backcountry spot and get estimated snowfall and estimated snowfall history. Since most backcountry areas do not have snow measurement equipment located at that exact spot, this feature will be a useful way to get a general estimate of how much snow has fallen.

To set your first "Custom Location", make sure that you are using the latest version of our iOS or Android apps (this works on our website, too!), then go to the Map tab, tap any spot on the map, and you're on the way to creating your first "Custom Location". You can learn more about Forecast Anywhere in this short how-to article.

Being able to get the forecast and save points as "Custom Locations" means that you can use our forecast data for any place you'd like to go - for backcountry skiing, camping, or even to see how much we think it'll snow in your backyard :-) And remember that "Custom Locations" works worldwide, so if you're traveling to a spot on the globe where we don't have a resort-based forecast (we have forecasts for many spots outside the US), go ahead and set up a "Custom Location".

And the last note is that "Custom Locations" are private and no other OpenSnow users will be able to see the "Custom Locations" that you create.

Please check out this new feature and let us know what you think! 

Snow Tires

In short, snow tires are amazing (I put my own last week). If you run snow tires in the winter, I bet you swear by them, and if you don't run snow tires in the winter, as a friend of mine said, they are less expensive than the increased chance of getting into an accident!

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