Reminder: Open terrain is still limited across the mountain, and watch for more terrain to open during the coming days.

On Thursday I was expecting mostly dry weather with maybe a snow shower. In reality, a narrow band of snow that was poorly forecast dropped about 1 inch of accumulation during the late afternoon and about 1 more inch of snow early on Thursday evening.

Now on Friday, the first phase of the storm is over, and sometime around late morning or midday, the second phase should begin with randomly placed and perhaps intense snow squalls moving across the northern mountains of Colorado. A reasonable forecast is for 1-3 inches of snow. This could help to soften conditions through the afternoon, and we might see snow showers hang around for a few hours after sunset, which could again create softer conditions on Saturday morning.

For temperatures, Friday will be chilly with a high in the teens, and Saturday will also be cold with a high temperature in the upper single digits to low teens. Thankfully, the wind will mostly be light and not an issue during these days.

Looking ahead, we'll see another round of snow showers on Sunday and Monday with light accumulations, a lower chance for snow around Thursday as a storm tracks to the south of Colorado, and our next chance for a significant storm will be in the December 18-20 window.

With this forecast, our snowpack will likely stay below the median and the amount of available terrain will be somewhat limited through mid-December. There are some signs that late December could bring a stormier weather pattern to the Rockies, but a 15+ day forecast is too far into the future to have any confidence in the eventual outcome.

Thanks for reading!

JOEL GRATZ
Meteorologist at OpenSnow.com

Snow conditions as of Friday morning

New snow mid-mountain (from the snow stake):
* 2” (24 hours Thursday 500am to Friday 500am)
* 1” (Overnight Thursday 400pm to Friday 500am)

New snow summit (from the snow stake):
* 2” (24 hours Thursday 500am to Friday 500am)
* 1” (Overnight Thursday 400pm to Friday 500am)

Last snowfall:
* 2” Thursday Night (Dec 7-8)

Terrain
* 10 of 23 lifts
* 33 of 181 trails
* Latest update

Snowpack compared to the 30-year average:
* 93%