Colorado Daily Snow
By Joel Gratz, Founding Meteorologist Posted 7 years ago October 5, 2016
Wednesday night snow, then dry for a few days
Summary
Snow will fall on the central and northern mountains on Wednesday evening through Thursday morning with 2-4 inches of accumulation. Snowmaking has begun, though might be curtailed as temperatures warm over the weekend and into early next week.
Details
Following Monday’s cold front, temperatures have cooled into the 20s and low 30s at the higher-elevation ski areas, and that means snowmaking has begun!
Abasin:
Loveland:
Copper:
The cold front brought light amounts of snow on Monday night through Tuesday, to mostly the northern and central mountains. The highest reports that I found were near Steamboat and on the Grand Mesa near Powderhorn with both locations reporting 2-3 inches above 10,000 feet.
Wednesday morning’s radar animation shows plenty of precipitation (rain and snow) to our north and west. The SNOTEL sensor at Grand Targhee in Wyoming shows about 20 inches of snow during the last two days - we won’t see that much, but some of that moisture will head toward Colorado.
On Wednesday, expect some clouds and a few showers over the northern and central mountains.
Between Wednesday late afternoon and Thursday morning, a band of steadier snow will pass over the state, targeting the northern and central mountains. The best chance to see a burst of heavier snow will be between sunset on Wednesday evening and sunrise on Thursday morning. Here is one forecast showing the band of rain and snow at about 3am on Thursday morning.
Total accumulations from this fast-moving wave of snowfall should be in the 2-4 inch range. I think the Flattops and the area near and north of Steamboat has the best chance of receiving the highest amounts.
Something to keep in mind is that the jet stream will be directly over Colorado on Wednesday night, and the jet stream often creates narrow bands of intense snowfall. These bands can quickly drop 2-3 inches in one hour
On Thursday, in the wake of Wednesday night’s snowfall, expect some sun, some clouds, some snow showers, and a chilly day for the central and northern mountains. Resorts will likely be able to make snow during the entire day.
On Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, the weather should be sunny, dry, and warmer, and I imagine that snowmaking will be limited to the nights as the days will be too warm.
A few showers could swing into southern Colorado on Sunday into Monday, and then the next chance of precipitation for the entire state will be next Tuesday, October 11th as a weak and warmer system heads across the west.
Unfortunately, I don’t see continuous cold weather returning to Colorado before about mid-October, so while snowmaking will continue when possible, it’s unlikely (in my mind, at least) that Abasin or Loveland would open before the third week of the month. Still, we can hope that the two-week forecast is wrong, which it often is:-)
And now, it’s announcement time!
TONIGHT! Weather talk in Golden on Wednesday, October 5
I’ll be chatting about
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Thanks for reading, and check back for an update on Thursday to see how much snow we received!
JOEL GRATZ
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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