Snow fell as expected on Wednesday night and we are waking up on Thursday morning to 2 inches at mid-mountain and about 1 inch at the summit, based on the official report at 5 am. As I mentioned in my previous forecast, Wednesday night's storm was not a perfect setup for Steamboat due to a wind direction from the north and northeast. Steamboat receives the most snow when the wind blows from the west and west-northwest. No matter, any snowflakes are good flakes, so we'll take the accumulation!

For the rest of Thursday, expect a few snow showers and some sunshine with a high temperature in the low-to-mid 20s.

Friday and Saturday will be dry, then the next storm will bring snow from late Saturday night through Sunday. This storm will move quickly and take a track from north-to-south across western Colorado and eastern Utah. Once again, this storm track is not ideal for lots of snow at Steamboat, but we should at least eek out another coating to 2 inches with a bit of fresh snow available to ski on Sunday.

After that, next Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday will be dry, and then a stormier pattern should develop over the western US from December 21 through the end of December. I will not know for at least a few more days whether this new pattern will bring a lot of snow to Steamboat, but I am excited that the weather pattern is changing with more action close to or over Colorado. Check back each morning for an updated forecast!

JOEL GRATZ, Meteorologist at OpenSnow.com