First, a note of sorrow and condolences. On Thursday, a fast-moving wildfire destroyed hundreds of homes in the area of Louisville and Superior, just south of Boulder and north of Denver. The fire was potentially sparked by a downed power line, and it moved very quickly due to wind gusts of 75-100+ mph. Most reports show that the fire destroyed at least hundreds of homes. I have friends that were directly impacted, and I am sure that many people in our OpenSnow community of snow lovers also lost homes and businesses. It's hard for me to be excited about powder in the mountains when a large part of a community burned and will take years to rebuild a sense of normalcy. Thankfully, it seems like the number of injuries is very, very low, which is perhaps the most important and comforting fact. I'll write a full forecast today but you may notice a lack of enthusiasm in my tone. 

Thursday & Thursday Night

We saw some snow during this time (coating to 1 inch) and conditions continue to be very soft and fun.

Friday

We will see snow all day, but because the incoming cold front might stall to our north for most of the day, we could see just lighter snow and lower accumulations until midday or afternoon.

Then when the cold front arrives during the afternoon and/or early evening, we should see intense snow. This means that while conditions will be soft during the day, the best powder might wait for last chair or even Saturday morning.

Friday Night

We should see times of moderate-to-intense snow continue on Friday night and then start to slack off by Saturday morning. The snow on Friday night should be dry and fluffy thanks to light winds and cold temperatures.

Saturday

There will be fun powder on Saturday morning thanks to the snow from late Friday afternoon through Saturday morning. Total snowfall by Saturday morning should be 10-15 inches. When you head out on Saturday, dress warmly for first chair as temperatures will be near 0°F all day.

Sunday, Monday, Tuesday

These days will be dry and partly-to-mostly sunny. Temperatures on Sunday will be in the teens, then on Monday and Tuesday, we'll warm up into the 20s.

January 5 – January 9

It's possible that snow will return on Wednesday, January 5 with snow every day through Sunday, January 9. I still have low confidence in the details of whether we will see a lot of snow or just lighter snow. Stay tuned.

Thanks for reading and please check back each morning for daily updates!

JOEL GRATZ
Meteorologist at OpenSnow.com

Snow conditions as of Friday morning

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

Last snowfall:
* 28” Sunday – Thursday (Dec 26-30)

Terrain
* 20 of 23 lifts
* 106 of 166 trails
* Latest update

Snowpack compared to the 30-year average:
* 91%

PS – The significant changes to OpenSnow that I've talked about for the last week are now live. If you're an All-Access subscriber (thank you!), you'll see no changes. If you are not an All-Access subscriber, here is an FAQ with more details about the upcoming changes, and we hope that eventually, we'll earn your support. Also, you can watch 2-3 minute videos about these changes made by myself, our Tahoe forecaster BA, and our Utah forecaster Evan. And finally, check out our Utah forecaster Evan's Twitter thread showing exactly how he uses OpenSnow's All-Access features to track powder.