On Tuesday, heavy snow was falling over most mountain locations in Colorado. My forecast was for 9-15 for most mountain locations with some highlights noted for the Front Range Divide and Vail Pass with NW flow. I specified that some models took moisture further north of Summit County while others pushed it west. Breckenridge came up short on Tuesday morning (6 inches) while Vail scored 12 inches. The big winner was Copper Mountain with 20 inches by 9AM Tuesday. Copper remained closed on Tuesday until 10 AM. 

My morning was frantic on I-70 with trucks blocking I-70 near the Eisenhower Tunnel as early as 6 AM. Loveland Pass was closed. Vail Pass was closed due to "Safety Concerns".  I gambled on the pass opening by 7 AM and to no avail it remained closed until around 9 AM. It seems that road closures in Colorado are the norm. If anyone from CDOT is reading this post, I would love to discuss solutions where there is no single answer to the complex issue.  Ideas: More plows, semi-truck staging areas with periodic flows, More heavy-duty wreckers, Enforce the traction tire laws, and more VMS boards including live feeds of the conditions ahead. I have driven more snow miles than 95% of the folks out there and don't encounter these issues in Utah (Parleys Summit) and in most cases even California (Chain control stations). Ironically, this season in the Cottonwood Canyons has only seen a handful of closures in Utah as compared to 44 last season! The situation in Colorado is complex and there are no simple solutions if you have any feel free to email them to OpenSnow who they can forward them to me. 

I pulled into Copper and rode the 20 inches of pow in the morning. Surprisingly, the snow quality was decent in the morning but significantly heavier as the sun peaked out. This was the biggest overnight dump of the season. 

Below: This is a great site to see as you pull into a ski area (Copper Mountain). @powderchasersteve 

POW NOW: 

Montana is reaping the biggest benefits as forecasted for Wednesday morning. Big Sky is coming in with 9-13 inches overnight (Very cold temps- Deep blower on a firm surface). Red Lodge Mountain is closed for uphill travel (Tear down) and looks to have picked up higher totals (9-16). 

Below: Lower elevations at Big Sky reaping 6-9 inches overnight into Wednesday with 9-13 at upper elevations. 

Below: Short-term High Resolution models showing moderate snowfall Wednesday favoring southern Montana especially Red Lodge and the Absaroka range in northern Wyoming. Big Sky will continue to see some light snow Wednesday with the Tetons getting grazed (2-4). Big Sky could be epic today with blow conditions on top of a firmer layer. 

Below: Red Lodge Ski area in southern Montana looks deep on Wednesday (Closed). No uphill is allowed today. 

Below: Frigid temperatures (-14C at 10K) are noted in Montana and pushing south into Wyoming including the Tetons. This cold front will kick off additional snow showers as It travels south into the Tetons. Warmer air continues to dominate Colorado. 

For the remainder of this week, snow showers return to Colorado on Thursday with wrung-out moisture from the north. Light snow Thursday is likely to increase from Friday afternoon to Saturday with the models advertising a possible decent event for the Front Range of Colorado. There is much uncertainty at this point with ranges of 5-15 inches (Large spread with widely spaced lines). 

Below: U of U Ensembles for the Eisenhower Tunnel show snowfall this week peaking Friday to Saturday with anywhere from 5-15 inches. The average Is around 10 inches. These ensembles tend to be a bit overblown so taking away 25% leads me to my forecast average of around 8 inches with a possible upside to 12. 

Below: The American GFS model which has performed well this winter is showing some decent totals for Colorado by Saturday afternoon (Combined snow from Thursday to Saturday). This storm will likely favor the Front Range. One difference from the last storm is the winds are counterclockwise with no predominate flow to favor the western I-70 corridor like the last system (NW). It's a gamble at this point on which mountains score the highest totals. Upslope flow is noted in the wind as well (NE, E) so my confidence is still leaning on the Divide resorts. Breckenridge and AB are also in the hunt! 

Below: Cold air infiltrates Colorado Friday night favoring the Continental Divide and areas east. Western areas continue to see warmer temps with this next storm (Front Range near Boulder is -7C at 10K). 

I will be posting periodically as my forecast changes. Thanks to the folks I met at Copper yesterday who read this post! It was great hanging on the chairs with you. 

Powderchaser Steve