Wednesday

On Wednesday, we enjoyed cold, fluffy snow in the morning with a few lingering snow showers, then the sun came out and temperatures topped out in the 20s.

Thursday

Thursday will start with chilly temperatures in the teens and partly cloudy skies. 

During the day on Thursday, we'll see a mix of sunshine and clouds as upper-atmosphere moisture increases ahead of the next storm. The afternoon high temperature will be around 30°F, which is warmer than the previous few days.

Thursday Night to Monday Night

Multiple waves of storm energy will cross Colorado between Thursday night and Monday night. These waves of energy should deliver 10-15+ inches of snow with higher totals across the northern and central mountains, and somewhat lower totals across the southern and eastern mountains.

Below is the multi-model average snow forecast from Thursday night to Sunday night.

Compared to yesterday, I now have a little more confidence in the details of this storm cycle, so here is what I think will happen:

• Thursday night through Friday: The first wave of snow targets the northern and central mountains with 3-6 inches of accumulation and maybe up to 6-10 inches for lucky areas and/or locations farther to the west. There will be abundant moisture in the atmosphere, and this can sometimes lead to upside surprises. Friday should start with powder and there will be more snow accumulating throughout the day.
  
  
• Friday night to Saturday morning: An additional 1-4 inches of snow could fall, still targeting the northern and central mountains. Perhaps there will be some powder on Saturday, though I have lower confidence about this.
  
  
• Saturday and Saturday night: I think this will be a drier period as we'll be between waves of storm energy. That said, we could still see times of snow.
  
  
• Sunday midday through Monday night: At least 4-8 inches of snow will fall across all mountains, and temperatures will cool on Sunday night and Monday. There will likely be some powder on Monday morning and during the day. We may see snow showers linger on Monday night, which would lead to soft conditions on Tuesday morning as well.

From Thursday night to Sunday midday, temperatures will be warm and the rain/snow line could be around 8,000 feet, plus or minus 1,000 feet, which is close to some mountain bases, and this also means that the new snow could be of thicker quality. Then from Sunday night to Tuesday, temperatures will cool and the snow quality will become fluffier on Monday and also on Tuesday morning.

Next Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday (April 2-4) will be dry and warmer with a high temperature in the 30s to low 40s.

Then we may see multiple storms between Friday, April 5, and Wednesday, April 10. It will take at least until early next week until we can figure out some of the details about this potential storm cycle.

Description: The graphic above shows 51 versions of the European EPS ensemble model (top) on the y-axis (vertical) and 15 days from left to right on the x-axis (horizontal). Each colored rectangle shows a chance for precipitation, with grey equaling little precipitation, green equaling light precipitation, and blues and oranges showing significant precipitation. The more the colors are aligned vertically, the higher the confidence in the forecast.

My next update will be Friday morning.

Thanks for reading!

Joel Gratz

PS - See the announcement below - we just released a new view with "Snow Ratio" data so that you can see our estimate of the fluffiness of the forecasted snowfall.

NEW: Snow Ratio Forecast

You can now get a good idea of the upcoming snow quality for the next storm via our new "Snow Ratio" forecast for any location in OpenSnow.

When we talk about snow quality, such as “light and fluffy” or “heavy and wet”, we are talking about the snow-to-liquid ratio. The higher the snow-to-liquid ratio, the lighter the snow quality, and vice-versa.

1. Go to any location screen and tap the "Snow Summary" tab.
2. Scroll down to the 5-day hourly or 10-day forecast section.
3. View the 5-day hourly or daily "Snow Ratio" forecast for the next 10 days.

10:1 will be fun but will feel a little heavy.

15:1 will offer some face shots and feel pretty light.

20:1 will be incredibly light, almost like skiing through nothing but air.

This new feature is currently available with the latest version of the OpenSnow iOS app installed (App Store > OpenSnow > Update), on the OpenSnow website (OpenSnow.com), and is currently rolling out to the OpenSnow Android app.

View → Snow Ratio Forecast

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, Snowmass, 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