This is going to be a snowy week with accumulating flakes in Colorado likely every day from Monday through Friday and maybe into the weekend as well.

First, the brief recap of Sunday morning is that a storm moved across the northern and central mountains and dropped a dusting to 5 inches of snow. The deeper snow totals were over the far northern mountains with about 4-5 inches near and north of Steamboat. 

Then Sunday afternoon and Sunday night were dry as the storm from Sunday morning had already moved to our east.

Looking ahead, the first two days of this week will bring lower chances for light snow accumulations. During this time, moisture will increase, but the storm energy needed to lift the air and convert the moisture into snow will be just a bit too far to the north of Colorado so I am expecting only light snow early in the week.

The snow forecast (from our OpenSnow high-resolution snow forecast model) for Monday, Monday night, and Tuesday shows just light snow amounts, generally near and north of I-70.

Monday-day

Monday Night

Tuesday-day

The caveat to the Monday through Tuesday forecast is that if the storm energy sags just a bit farther to the south, there could be more snow than is forecast for the northern mountains. This high-side surprise is a low-probability scenario though it is something that I am watching, especially for the mountains closest to the Wyoming border. 

Then Tuesday night is when the snow should ramp up as the storm energy will begin moving closer to Colorado. The wind direction from the southwest should favor the southern and far western mountains with the most snow on Tuesday night.

Wednesday will be the snowiest day of the week as the storm will be moving across Colorado on this day. The combination of stormy energy and a wind direction from the southwest should bring the most snow to the southern mountains with 10-20 inches possible from early Wednesday morning through Wednesday evening. For non-southern mountains, we could still see 4-8+ inches of snow even with a non-favorable wind direction as the combination of storm energy and moisture will create intense snowfall.

On Wednesday night, moderate to intense snow could linger across Colorado with another 4-10+ inches of accumulation. The wind direction will blow from the west-southwest or southwest, so the most snow could fall in the southern and central mountains and this additional snow (on top of Wednesday's snow) should mean that conditions on Thursday morning will be quite good for the southern 2/3rds of Colorado.

On Thursday, Thursday night, and Friday, we will continue to see a flow of moisture from the southwest and this should keep snow showers going, especially over the southern mountains. There should be at least a few inches of snow each day and each night and this will keep conditions in really good shape through the end of the week. Below are the snow forecast maps from Thursday through Friday night, and the snow showers could continue through Saturday as well.

Total snowfall from Monday through Friday should be 20-40 inches in the southern mountains, maybe in the 12-30 inch range for the central mountains, and generally 4-12 inches for the northern mountains. And again, I think that Wednesday will be the deepest and stormiest day of the week, with powder likely on Thursday morning as well.

Following the snow showers that continue on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, we will see another storm move close to or over southern Colorado from sometime later on Sunday through sometime on Monday (February 26-27). I am watching either Sunday afternoon or Monday morning for potential powder across many mountains in Colorado with potentially the deepest powder in the southern mountains.

Following the storm around February 26-27, we could see a few days of dry weather, then another series of storms could bring snow between about March 2-7.

This is a good-news forecast and I hope you're able to enjoy some or all of this snow:-)

Thanks for reading!

Joel Gratz

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