Colorado Daily Snow

Heads up, there may be fresher snow! Read the latest Colorado Daily Snow

By Joel Gratz, Founding Meteorologist Posted 4 years ago January 26, 2020

Next storm on Monday

Summary

Saturday morning was soft in the northern mountains with 1-2 inches overnight and another 1-4 inches falling early in the morning. Most of the rest of Saturday was dry and Sunday will be another dry day. The next storm will bring snow from Monday morning to Monday evening with 2-6 inches across the state, favoring the northern mountains. Additional light-to-moderate snow is likely on Wednesday and again around Friday into Saturday. I think next weekend (Feb 1-2) will be dry, then a strong storm could arrive around Tuesday, February 4th.

Short Term Forecast

The final wave of snow from last week provided soft turns on Saturday morning thanks to a few inches of snow on Friday night and a few inches on Saturday morning. The deepest accumulations were in the northern mountains.

Sunday will be a lot like Saturday afternoon with the northern mountains seeing some clouds and maybe a snow shower and fewer clouds over the central and southern mountains.

The break in the snow will last just one day as the next storm will arrive on Monday. The radar animation on Sunday morning already shows a plume of precipitation making landfall along the west coast and extending into Idaho and northern Utah. This is the storm that will bring us snow on Monday.

For Monday, expect snow from around sunrise to sunset, which means that conditions will likely be softest around midday and afternoon. The CAIC WRF 2km model shows most mountains in the 2-4 inch range with up to 6-8 inches in a few spots.

The wind direction for most of the midday and afternoon will be from the northwest which should favor the northern mountains, maybe Aspen, and maybe the northern part of the southern mountains (Telluride, Silverton). While snow amounts may not be super deep, new snow on an uncrowded weekday is a pretty great way to start off the week.

The snow should wind down on Monday night into Tuesday and some showers and accumulations could persist in the northern mountains.

Then the next storm will arrive on Wednesday. This system will dive far south of Colorado so my expectations for snow are lowering, but most mountains should still see at least some flakes and light accumulations.

Late in the week, I am still watching for another burst of snow sometime between Thursday night and Saturday morning. Models are split between decent snow totals for the northern mountains and the storm completely missing us and tracking too far to the north and east. I can’t make a call on this one and we’ll just have to wait another few days to see how it shakes out.

Consistent snowfall is what keeps the snow surface fresh, fun, and soft, and I like how this pattern is keeping us in the flow with at least light-to-moderate refreshes every few days.

Extended Forecast

I am pretty sure that the first weekend of February (February 1-2) will be dry. The American GFS and European models show a big area of high pressure over the weekend. But the not-to-be-totally-discounted Canadian model pushes the storm track farther south and is forecasting a lot of snow for our northern mountains. This seems unlikely based on the other two models showing dry weather, but maybe the Canadian model is picking up something worth looking at.

All three models then agree that our next chance for a significant storm will be around Tuesday, February 4th and that additional storms will move across the northern half of the Rockies through the first week of February.

While I am excited about an active pattern for us in early February, I have no clue how each storm will track. Will the northern mountains see a continuous flow from the northwest? Will these storms break off the main west-to-east flow and cut off over the southwest? Something in between? We’ll see. The first two weeks of February should be with plenty to discuss.

Thanks for reading!

My next update will be on Monday morning.

JOEL GRATZ

PS – Starting on Thursday, January 23rd, we released a fresh update to the OpenSnow iOS app. This update is based on feedback from OpenSnow users during the past year, along with ideas from our employees and forecasters (including me:-) because, like you, we are obsessed with finding great snow! A refreshed design for Android will be coming soon. Click here to see a few screenshots of the new design.

Announcements

Geography Key

Northern Mountains
Steamboat, Granby, Beaver Creek, Vail, Ski Cooper, Copper, Breckenridge, Keystone, Loveland, Arapahoe Basin, Winter Park, Berthoud Pass, Eldora, Rocky Mountain National Park, Cameron Pass

Along the Divide
Loveland, Arapahoe Basin, Winter Park, Berthoud Pass

East of the Divide
Eldora, Echo, Rocky Mountain National Park, Cameron Pass

Central Mountains
Aspen, Sunlight, Monarch, Crested Butte, Irwin, Powderhorn

Southern Mountains
Telluride, Silverton – north side of the southern mountains | Purgatory, Wolf Creek – south side of the southern mountains

About Our Forecaster

Joel Gratz

Founding Meteorologist

Joel Gratz is the Founding Meteorologist of OpenSnow and has lived in Boulder, Colorado since 2003. Before moving to Colorado, he spent his childhood as a (not very fast) ski racer in eastern Pennsylvania.

Free OpenSnow App