The weather story on Friday morning is a small temperature inversion, where readings at the top of the mountain are warmer (in the 20s) compared to temperatures lower on the mountain (in the teens).

Otherwise, the forecast for Friday, December 4 through Wednesday, December 9 is about as easy as any forecast gets here in Colorado. Each day should be mostly sunny with high temperatures in the 30s. Yes, we could use much more natural snow, but at least the mountain is open, we can make turns, and we can enjoy the outdoors with blue skies and in comfortable temperatures.

Thursday, December 10 should be a transition day with more clouds and perhaps a chance for some flakes.

I am still looking ahead to Friday, December 11, and Saturday, December 12 as the time when we’ll see our next chance for snow. Storm energy could head into Colorado from the southwest and/or northwest and it is still unclear if this will result in just light snow or if the storms can combine and create more snow. My fingers are crossed for the “more snow” scenario but I am keeping my expectations pretty low.

Looking far ahead, two of three longer-range models show a stormier pattern over the Rockies and Colorado during the final 10 days of December and into early January. This is NOT a forecast for a lot of snow during late December and early January and rather it’s just an outlook that I wanted to share as we need a bit of optimism in the snow department. While the snowfall outlook appears bleak right now, there might be a light at the end of the month.

Thanks for reading and check back each morning for daily updates!

JOEL GRATZ
Meteorologist at OpenSnow.com

Snow conditions as of Friday morning

New snow mid-mountain:
* 0” (24 hours Thursday 500am to Friday 500am)
* 0” (Overnight Thursday 400pm to Friday 500am)

Last snowfall:
* 2” Monday Night to Tuesday (Dec 1)

Terrain
* 8 of 23 lifts
* 18 of 152 trails
* Latest update

Snowpack compared to the 30-year average:
* 94%