Colorado Daily Snow

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By Joel Gratz, Founding Meteorologist Posted 6 years ago October 13, 2017

Arapahoe Basin opens, cold front Saturday, stronger storm next weekend

Summary

The in-bounds season kicks off today, Friday, October 13th as Arapahoe Basin starts spinning their lifts. A cold front will cool temperatures and a produce a few flakes in the northern mountains on Saturday, and then Sunday through next week will be sunny and warm. The next chance for snow will be next week, October 20-22, ish.

Short Term Forecast

Just because we can, let's throw it back to an earlier storm to remember the beauty of Colorado during autumn. Thanks to Art Burrows for sharing this gorgeous photo from Aspen.

And now at present day, Arapahoe Basin opens for the season on Friday, October 13th. This early-morning webcam image shows that a few folks were already lining up to get an early chair!

Weatherwise, Friday will be dry, and then a storm to our north will drag a cold front over northern Colorado on Saturday. Expect steady or cooling temperatures throughout the day on Saturday with a few midday and afternoon snowflakes near and north of I-70. Snow accumulations will be very light, just a dusting to maybe an inch-ish. Here is the forecast from the CAIC 3km WRF:

Extended Forecast

The storm on Saturday afternoon will quickly move away from Colorado on Saturday night, and then Sunday through next Friday, October 20th will be sunny and warm. This is fall in Colorado ... snowstorms one week, gorgeous sunshine and warmth the next.

Most of the snow for the next 7-10 days will stay to our northwest.

The next chance for snow in Colorado will be next weekend, October 20-22. It's likely that we will see snow during this time, but the odds are trending toward a weaker or moderate storm rather than a strong storm. Of course, the system is still seven days away, so we'll have to wait another few days to have more confidence in the forecast.

Thanks for reading and have a great weekend!

JOEL GRATZ

Announcements

Colorado Forecast Page https://opensnow.com/state/co

Talks

Join me in Nederland (~20 minutes west of Boulder) on Tuesday, October 17th at Salto. The kitchen will be open until 9 pm, so come around 630 pm to purchase food and a drink and then I'll give a talk from 700-730ish with questions to follow. I'll go over the various models used to predict this winter's snowfall, show my favorite websites that provide snow and weather data (outside of OpenSnow), and give a few tips about chasing powder. More info and RSVP:

https://www.facebook.com/events/124294131607804/

 

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, Echo, 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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