Steamboat Daily Snow
By Joel Gratz, Founding Meteorologist Posted 4 years ago December 13, 2020
Storm total of 11 inches at Steamboat
Summary
Saturday afternoon and Saturday evening brought a period of snow with 7 inches of accumulation. We’ll stay dry on Sunday, then the next storm will bring 2-6 inches from Monday through Tuesday morning.
Short Term Forecast
Saturday was a snowy day with light accumulations through mid-afternoon and then intense snow from late afternoon through early evening. Of the 7 inches that fell late in the day on Saturday, 4 inches accumulated in just 30 minutes which is an unbelievable extrapolated snowfall rate of 8 inches per hour. Wow! Since those 4 inches fell mostly after lifts closed, there should be soft turns to enjoy on Sunday morning.
From Sunday morning through Monday morning we should see dry weather with sunshine on Sunday and temperatures rising into the teens.
The next storm will bring snow from Monday midday through Tuesday morning with 2-6 inches of snow falling during that time and likely the softest snow on Tuesday morning. If the wind direction can stay blowing from the west or west-northwest, we could see more snow on Tuesday. If the wind direction swings around to blow from the northwest, we’ll likely see little additional snow on Tuesday.
On Wednesday, most forecasts show little or no snow, but I am not so sure. The jet stream will be pointed toward northern Colorado and additional moisture will flow toward us and perhaps ride over the cold air at the surface creating more snow than expected. I will keep a close eye on this.
Extended Forecast
Thursday should be dry.
Then the next storm will bring snow on Friday, December 18th.
After that, we should have a dry weekend for December 19-20, then snow should return from December 21-23. The storm between the 21st to the 23rd could be significant and I’ll keep you posted on the powder possibility for Christmas week.
Thanks for reading and check back each morning for daily updates!
JOEL GRATZ
Meteorologist at OpenSnow.com
Snow conditions as of Sunday morning
New snow mid-mountain:
* 7” (24 hours Saturday 500am to Sunday 500am)
* 4” (Overnight Saturday 400pm to Sunday 500am)
New snow summit:
* 7” (24 hours Saturday 500am to Sunday 500am)
* 4” (Overnight Saturday 400pm to Sunday 500am)
Last snowfall:
* 11” Thursday Night to Saturday Night (Dec 11-12)
Terrain
* 8 of 18 lifts
* 26 of 169 trails
* Latest update
Snowpack compared to the 30-year average:
* 59%
About Our Forecaster
