Colorado Daily Snow

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

By Joel Gratz, Founding Meteorologist Posted 1 year ago November 23, 2022

Snow into Thanksgiving

Summary

Wednesday will start dry, then snow will spread across Colorado from north to south on Wednesday afternoon and Wednesday night. This storm should result in 1-5 inches for many mountains, and we'll welcome the refresh during this otherwise dry period. Our next chances for flakes will be light snow on Sunday and a significant storm on Tuesday (November 29).

Short Term Forecast

Tuesday was a calm day across Colorado with mostly sunny skies and high temperatures in the upper 20s to mid-30s.

Now on Wednesday morning, moisture ahead of the incoming storm is creating some clouds, and morning low temperatures are still cold enough for snowmaking operations. We can see both the clouds and the snowmaking (faint cloud near the red lights at the base) in this mountain cam image from Keystone.

Wednesday into Thursday

We'll start Wednesday with dry weather. Then snow will begin around Wednesday midday at Steamboat and in the far northern mountains and closer to 2-4 pm at the I-70 mountains. Snow will then spread south and east throughout the rest of Wednesday evening.

The best chance for steadier snow will be from late Wednesday through Wednesday night, with snow accumulations ending by Thursday morning for most mountains. Areas near and east of the divide and near and south of I-70 could see snow continue to accumulate through Thursday midday or afternoon.

The limiting factor of this storm will be the low moisture, but the storm will be strengthening as it crosses Colorado and sometimes this strengthening can result in higher-than-expected snow totals.

Our high-resolution OpenSnow model continues to show 2-5 inches for many northern and some central mountains with curiously little snow east of the divide.

The high-resolution CAIC model shows slightly lower amounts in the 2-4 inch range with more snow over southeastern Colorado, and that looks more plausible to me.

The wind direction on Wednesday night will transition from the northwest to the north and even northeast. Of most of our mountains, this combination of wind directions could be most favorable around Winter Park, but again, limited moisture might not allow for a high-end surprise.

The wind direction on Thursday will be from the north and northeast, which could favor areas near and east of the divide across the southern half of the state, hence the (potential) bullseye of snow around Cuchara and the Raton Mesa over the Colorado and New Mexico border.

The result of this storm should be a few softer turns on Wednesday afternoon and some softer turns on Thursday morning - Happy Thanksgiving!

Thursday afternoon, Friday, Saturday

We'll head back into a dry weather pattern to end the week and into the first part of the weekend. Temperatures on Thursday will be in the teens, and temperatures on Friday and Saturday should warm into the 30s.

Saturday night through Sunday

The far northern mountains, from about I-70 on northward, could see light snow during this time on Saturday night through Sunday. I have low confidence in this forecast as some data continues to show that flakes will fall and some data shows mostly dry weather. Maybe we'll see a bit of a refresh on Sunday but I'm not holding my breath.

Extended Forecast

The main story for next week is the high likelihood of significant snow around Tuesday, November 29.

Most versions of most forecast models bring some snow later on Monday for far northwestern Colorado, then the brunt of the storm moves through on Tuesday with some powder on Tuesday through the day and also on Wednesday morning.

Below you can see the relative agreement amongst the 51 versions of the European forecast model that there will be significant precipitation on or around Tuesday, November 29.

Following the potential powder on Tuesday into Wednesday, the next chance for a storm could be around Friday, December 2. There is less agreement about this storm on December 2 (see above!) though both the American GEFS and Canadian models show the potential for the system around Dec 2 as well, so perhaps we'll get lucky and enjoy two storms next week.

Thanks for reading!

Joel Gratz

Announcements

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    • Tue, Dec 6. Summit County
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New Feature: 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

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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