Thursday

Thursday was dry, partly sunny, breezy, and warm.

Thursday Night

Snow began to fall around midnight on Thursday night across the northern and central mountains as moisture and storm energy tracked into the northern half of Colorado.

At sunrise on Friday, the snow totals are 1-6 inches across the western side of the northern and central mountains.

One of the deeper reports was in the Aspen area where Snowmass and Aspen Highlands picked up about 6 inches as of sunrise on Friday morning.

Friday to Monday Night

We'll see additional waves of snow on Friday and Friday night as well as from Saturday night through Monday night. 

The map below shows the multi-model average snow forecast, inclusive of the 1-6 inches that fell on Thursday night. The highest snow totals through Monday night should favor the west side of the northern and central mountains, though all mountains should see snow from this multi-day system.

Here is my breakdown, which is similar to yesterday's forecast:

• Friday and Friday night: The first wave of snow targets the northern and central mountains. We already saw 1-6 inches by Friday morning, and another 3-6+ inches could fall through Friday night, with the higher amounts falling at locations that are farther to the west. There will be abundant moisture in the atmosphere which can sometimes lead to upside surprises. There is powder on Friday morning, there should be more during the day, and we could see more powder or at least soft leftovers on Saturday morning.
  
  
• Saturday: I think most of Saturday will trend dry. We may see snow close to the Wyoming border and also during the afternoon across the western side of the northern and central mountains.
  
  
• Saturday night midday through Monday night: Another 4-8 inches of snow should fall across all mountains. There will likely be some powder on Sunday during the day due to snow accumulating on Saturday night and Sunday, and there will likely be somewhat colder powder on Monday morning as well. We may see snow showers linger on Monday and Monday night, leading to soft conditions on Tuesday morning.

On Saturday, temperatures will be warm and the rain/snow line could be around 8,000 feet, plus or minus 1,000 feet, which is close to some mountain bases. Then from Sunday night to Tuesday, temperatures will cool and the snow quality will become fluffier on Monday and Tuesday morning.

Next Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday (April 2-4) will be dry and warmer with a high temperature in the 30s to low 40s. The warmest days will be Wednesday and Thursday.

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.

Then we should see a storm start around Friday night, April 5, with snow possible through the weekend and into Monday, April 8. And another storm could bring snow between Wednesday, April 10, and Friday, April 12.

My next update will be Saturday 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