Monday was dry, then the snow began to fall at around 400 pm across the northern mountains, and snowfall rates on Monday night averaged 1-2+ inches per hour, resulting in snow totals that met or exceeded the high end of the forecast.

The deepest totals were about 25 inches near Cameron Pass and the west side of Rocky Mountain National Park in the Never Summer range.

The deepest totals at ski areas are below and ranged from 8-17+ inches across the northern mountains (in the list below, not all mountains are operating).

The most snow fell at Copper where the stake was buried with 17 inches as of about 4-5 am and there is likely closer to 20 inches as I type this at 600 am.

Here is the timelapse from Copper's stake, a thing of beauty!

Other northern mountains also did well with 12+ inches at Loveland:

And 12+ inches at Vail:

About 10 inches at Winter Park:

And 9 inches at Steamboat:

Going into the storm, the forecast models oscillated with many showing fewer than 10 inches and some showing 20+ inches. While I like to err on the conservative side, the strengthening storm is usually a sign that there will be at least some upside surprises, and at this point, most northern mountains met or exceeded the top end of the forecast range with a few solid upside surprises. We'll take it!

Snow will continue to fall through Tuesday mid-morning adding a few more inches to the above totals, and then the snow will taper off by late morning or midday.

Snow quality will be medium. Temperatures were in the upper teens to low 20s on Monday night and then warmed a few degrees closer to sunrise on Tuesday morning, so there could be a bit of an upside-down snowpack with somewhat thicker snow on top of somewhat fluffier snow. Overall, this new snow will be dense enough to cover the crusty base below and should result in fun, surfy turns on Tuesday.

The combination of slowly warming temperatures on Tuesday and potential breaks of sunshine on Tuesday midday and afternoon could turn the new snow to mush, so get out there early. Winds will be somewhat gusty on Tuesday, which might delay the snow turning to mush, at least for a little while.

Wednesday will be dry, and then the northern mountains will see showers on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. The snow/rain line should be around 9,000 feet during these showers, so lower base areas will see rain.

Sunday is closing day for a few mountains (Steamboat, Vail, Eldora, Winter Park (not Mary Jane), and Aspen Mountain) and the weather should transition to dry and sunnier conditions to end the weekend.

Then the longer-range forecast through the end of April is for a mix of sunny and warm days and also some showers, and this is pretty typical weather for April.

I do NOT see any forecast model showing a chance for a major snowstorm during the final ~15 days of the month.

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.

I'll continue to post daily updates through Wednesday, and then I will transition to less frequent updates as we wind down the active weather season.

My next update will be Wednesday morning.

Thanks for reading!

Joel Gratz

View → Projected Ski Resort Closing Dates

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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