Report

We saw snow on Friday, and this snow continued on Friday night with deeper accumulations than I expected. This is what happens when we have a lot of moisture in the air – it can lead to big snow totals!

The official mid-mountain snow stake showed 7 inches on Friday with 14 inches on Friday night, totaling 21 inches.

The temperature is warm, around 25-30F on the mountain, so expect dense, surfy snow from mid-mountain and above, and closer to the base, the snow will be even thicker and sloppy.

Saturday

We’ll see snow showers during the day with a few additional inches of accumulation.

Saturday night

Expect intense precipitation starting between 300-500 pm on Saturday afternoon and ending around 600 am on Sunday morning. Moisture will be at record-high levels and temperatures will be warm. This will translate into 8-16 inches of snow from mid-mountain and above, with a chance for a bit of rain near the base early in the storm. The warmest part of the storm will be before midnight on Saturday, then temperatures will drop on Sunday morning. This should mean that slightly fluffier snow will fall on top of dense, thicker snow from earlier in the storm.

Sunday

Get up early and enjoy the powder. We’ll have sloppier snow near the base, with perhaps fun powder above mid-mountain with somewhat fluffier snow on top of dense, thick snow.

Most of Sunday will be on the drier side with some sunshine, and this high-angle April sunshine will quickly turn the new snow to mush, so get out there early!

Also, we could have a few snow showers during the midday and afternoon hours.

Sunday night and Monday

A final, colder wave of snow will move through, dropping 3-8+ inches, and there could be more snow than this due to this storm favoring areas closer to the continental divide. On Monday morning, you’ll find fluffier snow on top of the 1-2 feet of snow from the previous days. It should be a fun morning!

Longer range

Winter Park will be open through Sunday, April 29th. Following dry weather on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, a cold storm should bring snow from Thursday night to Saturday midday, April 12-14, with perhaps 6-12 inches of accumulation. And another storm is possible around April 17-18.

Thanks for reading and stay tuned for an update each morning!

JOEL GRATZ, Meteorologist at OpenSnow.com