Copper Mountain Daily Snow
By Joel Gratz, Founding Meteorologist Posted 3 years ago January 19, 2021
Snow returns this weekend at Copper
Summary
Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday will be dry. Friday might bring a few flakes, and then the weekend will offer a higher chance for snow and moderate accumulations.
Short Term Forecast
Monday morning turned out to be soft with 2 inches of snow from Sunday night and an additional inch thanks to snow showers on Monday. I hope that you enjoyed it!
Tuesday morning is cloudy with a few flurries, though we should see clouds dissipate and the sun return by midday with the temperature rising into the 20s.
Wednesday and Thursday will also be dry with high temperatures in the 20s and a mix of clouds and sunshine. There could be gusty winds on Wednesday.
On Friday, there is a low chance that we’ll see a few snowflakes. Most models do not show this, though a few models do push snow showers over northern Colorado. Even if we do see snow, accumulations look low.
From Friday night through Sunday night, a strong storm will bring snow to Colorado. While that sounds like good news, and it is better than no snow, the wind direction during most of the storm will be from the southwest which is NOT favorable for intense snowfall and deep totals for us. That’s a bummer, but, there is a silver lining. Since the jet stream will be near or over Colorado, and since the jet stream can create narrow bands of intense snow that can overwhelm a bad wind direction, we may wind up with decent snow totals if a little bit of luck is on our side.
The best chance for snow will be from Saturday afternoon through Sunday evening. If we miss any narrow bands of snow, accumulations could be just a few inches. If any intense bands of snow hit, then we could get accumulations into the double digits. Let’s hope it is the latter scenario.
Extended Forecast
There might be a short break in the snow on Monday, January 25th. Then another storm should offer snow around Tuesday, January 26th. Like the weekend system, this storm will mostly bring an unfavorable wind direction from the southwest, but it could still result in respectable snow totals.
Looking far ahead, the final few days of January will likely trend toward dry weather. Then a stormier weather pattern could return starting around February 2-4.
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:
* 1” (24 hours Monday 500am to Tuesday 500am)
* 0” (Overnight Monday 400pm to Tuesday 500am)
Last snowfall:
* 3” Sunday Night to Monday (Jan 17-18)
Terrain
* 22 of 23 lifts
* 120 of 152 trails
* Latest update
Snowpack compared to the 30-year average:
* 74%