The main forecast challenge is high clouds. I rarely say that, but these high clouds are the difference between getting direct sunshine which softens the snow surface, or filtered sunshine which takes far longer to soften the snow.

On Monday, high clouds covered the sky for most of the day, and this did not allow the snow surface to soften until late afternoon when we reached our high temperature of 40 degrees at mid-mountain.

On Tuesday, we will continue to flirt with high clouds at Copper, so I do not have much confidence about when the firm morning snow will soften into spring conditions. If we get a few more breaks of sunshine during the mid-morning, the snow will soften before midday. If not, we might need to wait until afternoon.

Wednesday will be a fully sunny day as a ridge of high pressure moves directly over Colorado. Then high clouds will return for the rest of the week and weekend.

Our next chance for significant snow will be from a storm on March 22-23, and then the longer-range forecast shows storms every few days through the end of March and early April. Enjoy the sun and spring conditions now because powder will return soon:-)

JOEL GRATZ, Meteorologist at OpenSnow.com