I’ve got good news, I’ve got bad news, and I’ve got some ugly news. What do you want first? … Excellent – I’m an optimist as well.
Good = more snow is heading for Colorado. The most snow will fall from Tuesday evening through Wednesday.
Bad = the snow will not fall equally across the state. It looks like this is another “Wolf Creek Special”, with some decent snow for Silverton and Telluride in the south, and Eldora, Winter Park, Echo, Loveland, and Abasin along the front range.
Ugly = have you seen the Christmas sweaters lately?
Forecast
- Tuesday: snow starts around midday for the San Juans and toward evening for the rest of the mountains. The heaviest snow will fall Tuesday PM/Wednesday AM along the front range and the San Juans.
- Wednesday: best powder day of the next week. Snow continues off-and-on for most mountains throughout the day. The snow will lighten after dark.
- Thursday: partly to mostly cloudy with snow showers; little accumulation. The big story is the VERY cold air – afternoon highs in the single digits at ski-resort elevations.
- Friday: Again, perhaps a few light snow showers and continued VERY cold air. Afternoon highs in the single digits at ski-resort elevations.
Click on the map to move around, zoom, and see details on snow totals.
View CPF: Snow Forecast, December 22-23, 2009 in a larger map
Why?
This storm is favoring the San Juans and eastern front range mountains because of its southern track. A good, upslope wind direction in these areas will pile up some decent snow totals. Other mountain areas will not see favorable wind directions, which means generally lower snow totals.
Joel – you’re the man. Updated literally EXACTLY when I started wondering what was up with this storm.
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brettf – I’m here to serve. Now go get some pow, or at least enjoy time off from work!
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Good for the San Juans and the Front Range.
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Why did I get a Colorado pass? =(
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Joel nice work on the forecasts, although we haven’t been too lucky yet here in Winter Park it’s still nice to see some relative accuracy in snow forecasting.
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Headin up for POW day WED at Wolf Creek, just keeping fingers crossed that they dont close the pass from Pagosa side WED am
any thoughts…. I don’t see accum getting high enough to make road maintenance an issue…
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You may want to know i will be snow dancing for Snowmass on new years. That adds at least an inch. Thanks for the great reports.
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is it too early to make a guess at how many inches
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Heading down to Telluride Wednesday morning. Hope some of that San Juan snow lands on T-Ride. Wishing all of you a white and fluffy X-Mas
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so, does this mean resorts on 70 west of the divide are gonna get skunked? ggggrrrrrrrr!
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Gratz, kick ass site!
Questions about the potential for upslope… looks like the ingredients are there. However the CAIC discussion mentions another low to the north preventing our closed low from really revving up. Can you expand on the dynamics of that situation? Do they sort of cannibalize each other in terms of energy and moisture?
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more upslope please!!
Estes Park skiers are being treated to a nice pattern so far, but….we need that snowpack to load up and calm down.
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I’m stuck at Shawnee….when do we get snow here!
Great job….happy holidays….love ya – Dad
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J Howe – Winter Park could get closer to a foot by Thursday AM if a little luck pans out. Keep hoping.
CM – Wolf Creek Pass should be OK…maybe just a quick closure on Wed AM if it snows a ton overnight, but you should be OK getting there.
hambergerz – click the shaded areas on the map for detailed predictions on number of inches. easy as pie.
ReeAnne More-E-see – I-70 resorts west of the divide will see some snow, but they won’t be the big winners this time. Seems like a theme this winter.
dr CAIC is correct…the two lows “or troughs” will eventually join together out in the midwest to create a strong storm, but before this, they will compete for available energy and each one won’t be too strong as they come near Colorado. Also, the southern storm is just too far south into New Mexico to really hammer us with easterly upslope winds along the Front Range. Instead, the winds will be mostly from the North.
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Time to KILL some powder!thanks for the 4cast.
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Thanks for the forecast. Love your site! FYI, it’s Berthoud, not Berthod.
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Justin – thanks for the compliment! I updated the “Berthoud” name and you’ll see it on the next map.
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Is there any update on Telluride? Also, thank you for putting this site together. It’s great!
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BoulderGuy – I think Telluride will be in the high single digits for a snowfall total. It won’t be a massive powder day down there Wed AM, but some good snow overnight Tuesday should make for excellent riding in the morning. Have fun and comment back here about the conditions – thanks!
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Good post about the snow, but was looking for more info on ugly sweaters.
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Julie – based on my outfit for IgniteBoulder #7 outfit (http://www.youtube.com/igniteboulder#p/c/C442E11A0F39E2D9/1/THl7dzLt-t8) I’ve been told to hold off on any additional fashion advice.
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Silverton closed for the snowfall, I’m heading down for the weekend to add some skier pressure on that bad boy! Cheers! Egg Nog and Yule logs on the fire!
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hey, the mobi version of this site is money. Thanks, Gratzo!
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wolf creek got 6″ out of that last storm and purg got maye3-4, they said 6 but they lie, lie, lie!!!
not bad day all in all though.
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powderpages.com – thanks for the report! A little less than I was hoping for down there, but any snow is good snow.
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Steamboat is reporting 10″ this morning? Is that accurate? Wasn’t expecting that at all.
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vincenzo – I think 10″ is reasonable…they can do well in a moist northerly flow. Didn’t expect 10″, but can’t argue with it!
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