Monday was a frustrating day in southwest flow as we saw clouds and a few showers but no real accumulation. This is typical with unfavorable southwest winds.

On Monday night, we continued to see unfavorable southwest winds, but stormy energy increased and the jet stream moved overhead, and both of those factors helped the atmosphere to overwhelm the unfavorable wind direction and bring moderate to intense snow.

I am writing this before the official report is published on Tuesday morning but the snow stake cam shows at least 3 inches and there could be additional accumulation by the time the 500am report is released.

For Tuesday, expect soft snow in the morning with additional showers and accumulations through the day. The west and northwest flow behind the storm can be tricky and sometimes leads to just light additional snow and other times can bring deeper totals. I think we’ll see at least a few inches accumulate during the day and this should keep turns soft through the last chair.

Wednesday and Thursday will be dry.

Thursday night will bring a weak storm and we should see just light snow showers.

Then Friday, Saturday, and Sunday should be dry with plenty of sunshine.

On Sunday night a weak storm could bring light snow.

I am most excited about the longer-range outlook with a stormy pattern between Wednesday, January 6, and Sunday, January 10th. This time frame should bring multiple storms near or over Colorado. Fingers crossed for big snow!

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

JOEL GRATZ
Meteorologist at OpenSnow.com

Snow conditions as of Tuesday morning

New snow mid-mountain:
* 3+” (24 hours Monday 500am to Tuesday 500am)
* 3+” (Overnight Monday 400pm to Tuesday 500am)

Last snowfall:
* 3+” Monday to Tuesday (Dec 28-29)

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

Snowpack compared to the 30-year average:
* 79%