Thursday was much like Wednesday with a high temperature around 50F at mid-mountain and 45F at the summit. If you’ve been reading the forecast for the last few days, it should come as no surprise that this warm and mostly sunny weather will continue through the weekend, and Saturday could be the warmest day of the bunch with mid-mountain highs pushing into the mid-to-upper 50s. In this weather pattern, expect firm snow first thing in the morning, then it will soften by mid-morning and become slushy near the base during the afternoon.

The longer-range forecast does show snow, with the first storm starting on Thursday March 23 and continuing through the morning of Friday March 24th. We should see at least a few inches of flakes, which should create soft turns on the groomers on Thursday and again Friday morning.

Following dry weather next Friday afternoon and Saturday, the next storm should arrive some time on Sunday March 26th, and we should see chances for snow continue through March 31st. After a mostly warm and dry March, winter will return during the final 8 days of the month!

JOEL GRATZ, Meteorologist at OpenSnow.com