Wednesday was the fourth morning in a row where some mountains were above the clouds.

Once the sun starts shining, the low clouds on Wednesday should dissipate and the day should be sunny.

The current radar animation shows that we are between storms, with an incoming system over the west coast and an exiting storm over eastern Texas.

Enjoy the dry weather on Wednesday and Thursday, and while we have this break in the action, take a moment to appreciate the series of storms that brought us from nearly no snow in mid-November to 150% of average now in mid-January. We have reached 80% of our average peak snowpack in Colorado and it’s only January 18th!

Looking ahead, snow will start on Thursday night and should continue through Sunday morning as two storms track to the south of Colorado. From Thursday night through Saturday afternoon, the track of the storms and wind direction from the southwest should favor the southern mountains. The deepest snow should be at Purgatory, Wolf Creek, and Silverton on Saturday. Then the wind direction should switch to blow from the west and northwest on Saturday night and Sunday morning, so the best powder on Sunday could be at Telluride, the central, and northern mountains.

The snow forecast map through Sunday shows that most of the action will be over the western 1/3rd of the United States, including Colorado.

There should be a break in the snow with drier weather on Sunday afternoon.

The latest models are increasing the speed of the next system, which could drop flakes as early as Sunday night or Monday morning, with snow continuing through Wednesday morning. This storm should hit Colorado more directly (versus the previous storms on Friday and Saturday which will largely stay to the south). A more direct track over Colorado could mean that snow amounts will fall more equally across all mountains.

I think Monday afternoon or Tuesday could be storm-skiing days with leftover pow possible on Wednesday morning (Jan 25). As I said yesterday, this storm is still 5-7 days away, so stay tuned for updates as things will change.

The snow forecast from the University of Utah shows the most certainty (lines closer together) and the deepest totals over the southern mountains.

The central mountains have less certainty and lower totals.

And the northern mountains are the most uncertain of all.

What is more certain is that after the middle of next week, we should experience of stretch of 5-7 days of drier weather, from about January 26 through at least January 31.

A more active weather pattern should return in February, but we may need to be patient through 1-2 weeks of dry weather as the atmosphere resets.

Thanks for reading!

JOEL GRATZ

I am a fan of fun in the mountains AND learning about the mountain environment. Please take a moment to consider making a donation to get these kids up to the Keystone Science School for 3 days of fun and learning in March. I am thrilled that OpenSnow contributed $100 toward their tuition and transportation. Their teacher, Robert Cooper, emailed me and asked for a shout out because “I often give some press to great companies doing great things, and these are great kids doing great things.” Sounds great to me! More info here: https://www.gofundme.com/keystone-science-school-experience

 

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