Following a long period of dry and sunny weather, the atmosphere is going to transition back to a more active pattern. The start of this active pattern will be on Thursday but it won’t look that exciting – just cloudy skies and high temperatures that are still warm, in the 30s.

On Thursday night, the first piece of the storm will push through Colorado, though it will track mostly east of us and we’ll likely see just a few flakes if that.

On Friday, another piece of the storm will push through Colorado, though it will track mostly south of us, so any snow totals on Friday should be light.

From Friday night through Saturday midday, we’ll be in a lull with little or no snow likely.

So where is this storm?

The strongest piece of energy will finally push through from Saturday afternoon through Saturday night. During this time, expect steady and potentially intense snow with 4-7 inches of accumulation. The snow should end around Saturday midnight, and Sunday morning will be gorgeous with clearing skies, fresh snow on the ground, and cold temperatures around 0°F. It’ll feel like winter! While there is still limited terrain open on the mountain, there should be some soft snow to enjoy on this limited terrain on Sunday morning.

The weather on Sunday and Monday morning should be dry.

The next storm will then arrive sometime later on Monday or Monday evening with snow continuing into Tuesday. My early estimate for this storm is that we’ll see 2-4+ inches and Tuesday morning could be soft. The forecast will undoubtedly change at least a little bit, and I’ll keep you updated.

The end of next week, December 16-18, is still up in the air. Some models push the storm track just a bit to our north while other models bring another storm or two right over Colorado. Fingers crossed that the atmosphere smiles on us and points the storm track at northern Colorado!

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

JOEL GRATZ
Meteorologist at OpenSnow.com

Snow conditions as of Thursday morning

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

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

Terrain
* 9 of 23 lifts
* 27 of 152 trails
* Latest update

Snowpack compared to the 30-year average:
* 82%