Tuesday morning began with mostly dry weather (except for Steamboat where snow was already falling).

Then from Tuesday afternoon through Wednesday morning, snow showers tracked across most northern and central mountains, along with the north side of the southern mountains (Silverton, Telluride).

These productive snow showers led to widespread reports of 2-6 inches of fluffy accumulation by Wednesday morning, and the deepest reports were 20 inches at Irwin (I updated this number from 12 to 20 inches after receiving a human report) and 7 inches at nearby Crested Butte.

The new snow looks fluffy on the snow stake cameras, so it should ride nicely in areas where the base is still soft.

Wednesday

From Wednesday morning through Wednesday early afternoon, snow showers could continue across any of the mountains that saw snow on Tuesday night. Then by Wednesday evening, the snow showers will end. High temperatures on Wednesday will continue to be chilly with readings in the teens.

Thursday

We'll see dry weather on Wednesday night and for most of the day on Thursday. The high temperature on Thursday will be warmer with readings close to 30°F. The combination of a warmer temperature and some sunshine should negatively affect the quality of any remaining soft and fluffy powder, though, in areas that have been tracked and/or groomed, conditions should be pretty fun.

Thursday Night to Tuesday

From Thursday night through the weekend and into early next week, the atmosphere will be active with more snow falling at various times. I have low confidence in the forecast details since we'll be dealing with multiple weak-to-moderately strong storms and the forecast models do not always handle these situations very well.

Thursday night through Friday should bring the first round of snow to the northern and central mountains. Perhaps we'll see 2-8 inches, and these numbers could go up due to the combination of abundant moisture and the jet stream overhead. The snow quality will be thicker because temperatures will be warm. The snow/rain line will hover around 8,000 feet, plus or minus 1,000 feet, so some base areas or lower towns might see rain showers instead of all snow.

Friday night through Saturday could be drier with fewer snow showers and continued warmer temperatures.

Sunday through Tuesday will then bring more snow due to one or two pieces of moderately strong storm energy which will track over or near Colorado. There could be another 2-8+ inches of snow on these days, with the chance for thicker powder on Sunday, and then maybe fluffier powder on Monday and/or Tuesday as temperatures cool.

The multi-model average snow forecast from Thursday night through Tuesday shows decent potential, but again, I have low confidence in the forecast details, and the quality of a lot of this snow will be on the thicker side.

I think snow will be ending on Tuesday, April 2, and then we should see dry and warm weather on Wednesday, April 3, and Thursday, April 4.

Starting on Friday, April 5, and continuing through the weekend of April 6-7 and likely into the following week, multiple storms could bring snow to Colorado.

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.

I have low confidence in the details of the forecast from April 5-10, but I am at least penciling in the chance for snow, and maybe significant snow, somewhere in Colorado, or in a neighboring state. We'll figure out the details during the next five-ish days and go from there. Winter isn't over:-)

My next update will be Thursday 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