Monday

Monday morning's powder sure was fun with 5-15 inches of new snow at most mountains, and snow showers continued during most of the day, mostly keeping the sunshine from harming the snow quality too much.

An important piece of Monday morning's powder was the "right-side up" snow quality. The storm started with thicker snow on Sunday night, and then as temperatures cooled, the snow became fluffier by Monday morning. This meant that we had fluffy snow on top of thicker snow, and this is the perfect recipe for excellent powder riding since the thicker snow below covers and softens the base and the fluffier snow on top provides the smiles.

After a morning of family powder skiing, I conducted a non-scientific test of the snow quality at Beaver Creek. I confirmed that the top 6+ inches were super fluffy, perhaps 18-to-1 (18 inches of snow to 1 inch of liquid).

Total Snowfall

On Monday, snow showers delivered 2-6 inches of additional accumulation, bringing the top snow totals to 18-20 inches at Beaver Creek, Monarch, and Telluride.

Also, a shout to Taos, New Mexico where their 60-hour snow total was around 44 inches. Our average forecast was 31 inches during this time, so more snow fell than was forecast, but at least the forecast pointed toward the possibility of deepness.

Tuesday & Wednesday

Following a short break in the snow showers on Monday night, snow showers will return on Tuesday, Tuesday night, and Wednesday. While Tuesday morning is mostly dry across Colorado, this will change during the day as showers form and increase in intensity.

I wish I could say where the most snow will fall, but I have no idea. Any mountain could see 1-6+ inches of snow on Tuesday, Tuesday night, and Wednesday morning, so we'll watch the radar and the snow stakes and see if we can enjoy sneaky powder (or at least soft conditions) on Tuesday afternoon or Wednesday morning.

Thursday

Thursday will be dry and warm with a high temperature in the 30s. 

Thursday Night to Saturday

For the last few days, forecasts for Thursday night and Friday oscillated between a moderately strong storm with snow, then a weaker storm with just snow showers, and now we're somewhere in the middle with decently strong storm energy and a chance for moderate snow totals.

The most recent forecasts show that storm energy will combine with the jet stream and increasing moisture to bring snow to the northern and central mountains from Thursday night through Saturday midday or afternoon.

I think 2-8 inches is a reasonable (wide) range for this storm, which means that there could be some fresh snow on Friday during the day and/or Saturday morning.

Something to keep in mind, though, is that temperatures will be warm with readings close to 30 degrees and a snow/rain line hovering around 8,000 feet. This translates to potential rain at the base of some mountains, and the snow quality will likely be pretty thick/dense.

Saturday afternoon and Saturday night should be dry.

Then the next storm will bring snow to Colorado from Sunday into Monday or even Tuesday (March 31 to April 2). The forecast is trending weaker for this storm with energy splitting around Colorado. Perhaps we'll wind up with moderate snow accumulations and some powder possible on Monday.

Description: The graphic above shows 51 versions of the European EPS ensemble model (top) on the y-axis (vertical) and 15 days from left to right on the x-axis (horizontal). Each colored rectangle shows a chance for precipitation, with grey equaling little precipitation, green equaling light precipitation, and blues and oranges showing significant precipitation. The more the colors are aligned vertically, the higher the confidence in the forecast.

Most of the middle of next week should be dry, then the next chance for a storm, or multiple storms, will be sometime around the following weekend, between Friday, April 5 and Monday, April 8.

My next update will be Wednesday morning.

Thanks for reading!

Joel Gratz

PS - See the announcement below - we just released a new view with "Snow Ratio" data so that you can see our estimate of the fluffiness of the forecasted snowfall.

NEW: Snow Ratio Forecast

You can now get a good idea of the upcoming snow quality for the next storm via our new "Snow Ratio" forecast for any location in OpenSnow.

When we talk about snow quality, such as “light and fluffy” or “heavy and wet”, we are talking about the snow-to-liquid ratio. The higher the snow-to-liquid ratio, the lighter the snow quality, and vice-versa.

1. Go to any location screen and tap the "Snow Summary" tab.
2. Scroll down to the 5-day hourly or 10-day forecast section.
3. View the 5-day hourly or daily "Snow Ratio" forecast for the next 10 days.

10:1 will be fun but will feel a little heavy.

15:1 will offer some face shots and feel pretty light.

20:1 will be incredibly light, almost like skiing through nothing but air.

This new feature is currently available with the latest version of the OpenSnow iOS app installed (App Store > OpenSnow > Update), on the OpenSnow website (OpenSnow.com), and is currently rolling out to the OpenSnow Android app.

View → Snow Ratio Forecast

Geography Key

Northern Mountains
Steamboat, 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, Snowmass, 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