Colorado Daily Snow

Heads up, there may be fresher snow! Read the latest Colorado Daily Snow

By Joel Gratz, Founding Meteorologist Posted 7 years ago December 6, 2016

The Pattern Is Full

Summary

Snow on Monday evening will make Tuesday a powder morning along I-70, and another round of heavier snow should bring 4-8+ inches on Tuesday afternoon and Tuesday night to most of the state, so Wednesday morning should be a powder day as well. Then after a break on Thursday, snow will likely return to the northern (and perhaps) central mountains from Friday through at least Tuesday, Dec 13th.

Short Term Forecast

This early-week storm is coming through in two phases.

The first phase brought snow to northern Colorado during the day on Monday and Monday evening. Most mountains received 2-4 inches, though a narrow band of heavier snow stalled close to I-70 on Monday evening yielding a few more inches for certain areas.

Abasin, Keystone, Vail, Winter Park - 6 inches

Beaver Creek, Breckenridge, Copper - 5 inches

Now on Tuesday morning light snow continues on mountains near I-70 with a temperature near or just above zero, while areas well north of I-70 are seeing very cold air with the temperature well below zero.

The infrared satellite image on Tuesday morning shows two things. First, the green and blue colors over Washington, Oregon, and Idaho (upper-left) is the next piece of the storm that will hit Colorado on Tuesday night. Second, the blue colors over northern Colorado and southern Wyoming depict surface temperatures well below zero degrees. The infrared satellite image measures temperature, and if there are no clouds for the satellite to measure, it shows the temperature of the ground.

The second phase of the storm will bring a period of heavy snow from midday Tuesday through Wednesday morning, with the heaviest snow likely falling between about 4pm Tuesday and 5am Wednesday. This snow will hit all mountains, though the northern, central, and east-of-the-divide mountains should be favored.

Total accumulations on Tuesday night should average out to the 4-8 inch range, but I would not be surprised to see 10+ inches from Aspen north to I-70 and just east of the northern continental divide around Eldora and Rocky Mountain National Park.

The image below is from the CAIC high-resolution WRF model. I think its forecast is pretty good, though the southern mountains may see a bit more snow than it’s showing (based on the European model’s forecast … the American GFS model shows less snow for the southern mountains).

Wednesday morning should be a powder day and dress warmly as temperatures will be within a few degrees of zero.

Light snow may persist during the day on Wednesday, but with very cold temperatures and a meager amount of moisture in the air, I think accumulations will be light.

Wednesday night and Thursday should be dry. Following clear skies on Wednesday night, Thursday morning will be very cold with a temperature well below zero. The sun should warm things up on Thursday, into the mid-teens.

Extended Forecast

The weather pattern will be full of storms from later this week through the middle of next week.

Friday, Saturday, and Sunday should bring more snow to northern Colorado and perhaps central Colorado as well. Right now I think the best powder may be on Saturday afternoon, Sunday, and/or perhaps Monday first chair. It’s tough to nail down the timing of each wave of snow since the flow from west-to-east is so fast … small differences in the location of each storm create a big change to the timing of the forecasted snow.

Early next week, Dec 12-14, we’ll be on the southern edge of the storm track, which means more snow possible, especially in northern and central Colorado.


The University of Utah downscaled ensemble forecast show snow continuing during the weekend and early next week (see the lines going up and to the right). This is good news even if we don’t know the exact timing of each batch of heavier snow.

If you’re a local here in Colorado, this forecast is awesome because the snow during the next week will fall during a time when there aren’t many people skiing. More powder for you and me;-)

If you’re coming to Colorado for the holidays later in December, this snow is awesome because it will help build the base and pave the wave for more terrain to open by the time you get here.

Let it snow!

JOEL GRATZ

Announcements

1) I am giving a talk at the Topo Designs store at 9th and Pearl St in Boulder on Tuesday, December 6th. Come for beers and snacks at 6pm and I’ll give a 30-minute talk starting around 630pm.

2) Contest – Prepare for the upcoming season with the Gear Up For Winter Sweepstakes presented by Liftopia! Prizes include new DPS skis, limited edition SPY goggles, Yakima cargo box, and $1,500 worth of gift cards from Liftopia, EVO, and The Feed. Enter to Win: http://opsw.co/2gdRiuy

3) We are writing Daily Snow posts specific to Steamboat (http://opensnow.com/dailysnow/steamboat), Copper (http://opensnow.com/dailysnow/copper), Vail (http://opensnow.com/dailysnow/vail), and Breckenridge (http://opensnow.com/dailysnow/breckenridge).

Geography Key

Northern Mountains
Steamboat, Granby, Beaver Creek, Vail, Ski Cooper, Copper, Breckenridge, Keystone, Loveland, Abasin, Winter Park, Berthoud Pass, Eldora, Rocky Mountain National Park, Cameron Pass

Along the Divide
Loveland, Abasin, Winter Park, Berthoud Pass

East of the Divide
Eldora, 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

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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