I will be in the Colorado backcountry on a hut trip from Friday morning through Sunday. Have a great weekend and look for my next update on Monday morning!

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From the looks of the snow reports and webcams on Friday morning, all areas are coming in with 2-7 inches. All road surfaces from west of Georgetown through Vail are wet, icy, and snow-packed so expect slower travel speeds to continue through Friday morning.

I-70 Report: http://opsw.co/i70reports

Periods of light snow will now continue through Friday morning before clearing begins to take place by midday. Look for daytime highs to rise into the teens through Friday afternoon. All road surfaces will become mostly clear by Friday evening. 

Clear skies follow on Friday night and into Saturday. Saturday will feature sunny skies and temps reaching into the 30s. All road surfaces will be clear and dry.

Increasing clouds on Saturday night will then be the signal for our next round of snow from Sunday through Monday morning. We could see a few flakes on Saturday night and Sunday morning but it now looks like the main event will swing through the I-70 mountain corridor on Sunday afternoon/evening and continue through Sunday night and likely into Monday morning.

Below is a look at the latest ensemble snow forecast for Vail Pass, courtesy of the University of Utah. Even though we are still 48-60 hours away from the main event, there's fairly good agreement for healthy totals along the I-70 mountain corridor. 

In total, look for 4-8+ inches from Sunday through Monday morning, with Monday AM being a great time to catch fresh turns. For travel, wet, icy, and snow-packed road surfaces will quickly return on Sunday afternoon/evening and continue through Monday morning. Keep a close eye on CDOT and give yourself plenty of extra travel time. 

CDOT Alerts: http://opsw.co/cdotalerts

Chances for snow will continue through Monday ahead of clearing skies and mostly dry conditions beginning on Tuesday.  Temps will jump from the teens on Monday and back into the 30s from Tuesday through next Thursday, March 22nd. All road surfaces will become clear and dry on Tuesday.

Looking further ahead, our attention will shift to around Friday, March 23rd through Monday, March 26th as either one storm or a series of storms swing through the Intermountain West. We'll get more into the details early next week but I'm liking what I'm seeing. 

Thanks for reading, travel safe, and have a great weekend!

SAM COLLENTINE

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Snow Forecast & Reports: Denver I-70