The snow has been so good (with more on the way), even the cops are calling in sick and going skiing. That's a dummy in the picture...
Yep – more snow is on the way. The next 5-7 days should be rather snowy, especially for the northern half of Colorado. This is great news after a lackluster early season, and adding more snow to the 1-2 feet that fell last week can only make the skiing and riding more fun. I’m getting excited for Friday through Monday! The previous week and this upcoming week could have the best snow of the season for northern Colorado.
The powder was so good at Vail on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday that the cops shirked their responsibilities and went skiing. That is a dummy in the picture above – classic! Of course, I should add the requisite disclaimer that the Vail police do a great job and I am not actually suggesting that they left their shifts to go skiing. Plus I should applaud them for the realism of their dummy!
Keep reading for the full forecast, a few pictures and stories from Steamboat this weekend, and a recap of the the snow from last week & weekend.
Forecast
I’ll have another forecast ready on Thursday, which will include video, text, and maps. THANK YOU for your comments on the video from last week – I am listening to your thoughts and will focus on providing information that is helpful and easy on the eyes!
- Tuesday: Mostly sunny, except around Summit and Eagle counties. Somehow they are still eeking out some flakes, but not much accumulation.
- Wednesday: Perhaps the driest day of the week, but there will still be some clouds around – especially from I-70 and north. Light snow might begin along and north of I-70 by evening, but again – it will be light and the main storm is yet to come.
- Thursday: Snow increases as a cold front drops down from the CO/WY border. Snow will increase by evening, first for Steamboat and Eldora, then along I-70 by the nighttime hours.
- Friday: Powder day for the mountains along and north of I-70, Aspen, Powderhorn, and Eldora. First guess right now is 5-10″ on the Friday AM report, with the highest amounts around Steamboat, Powderhorn, Vail, Breckenridge, and Aspen. It should keep snowing for a good part of the morning before tapering off to light snow by afternoon. Who said “sick day”? Not me…
- Saturday: Another storm flies into the state, initially putting down the most snow in central and southern Colorado favoring Telluride, Silverton, Crested Butte, Aspen, and Powderhorn with 5-10″. As the day turns to afternoon and evening, the storm will move across the state and focus the heavier snow along and north of I-70, including Aspen and Eldora. This will be a windy and snowy day for most areas…so dress warm and enjoy the deepness. The heaviest snow will fall during the day south of I-70, and during the late afternoon and night time along and north of I-70.
- Sunday: Could this be another epic Sunday for areas along and north of I-70, with 5-10 more inches mostly after close on Saturday? Yup – plan to get up early as most areas from Aspen on north will see some deep powder from the cumulative snow since Thursday night. Oh yeah – it might even keep snowing for much of Sunday in the favored areas along and north of I-70.
- Monday: Another few inches (3-6″) could fall Sunday night into Monday, continuing the deepness into next week. Ah, I love you winter.
Keep an eye on the comments as readers report local conditions and I respond to specific questions for local forecasts.
Steamboat
It was fun to be in Routt County on Sunday. A foot of snow on Thursday through Sunday made for great skiing, and the views down into the Yampa Valley were sensational. Plus it was not very crowded considering President’s weekend. Below, Tamra finds the fluff.
Bonus – the Western BBQ at the top of the Gondola is a great way to have an all-you-can-eat dinner and entertain the kids at the same time. I’m still full…
Recap of the Last Storm
Oh man, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday were great days to be on snow. For most of January, I only heard people complain about the lack of snow in the northern mountains. This past week, all I could hear were “whoops” as people had powder going over their heads. According to the numbers, I hit the snow totals exactly for the central mountains, but was actually low for Eldora, the northern San Juans (Telluride, Silverton), and many of the resorts along I-70. I’ll learn for next time, though I dislike being unreasonably optimistic and would rather be surprised with a bit more snow. The big winners? Breckenridge, Vail, and Loveland.
| RESORT | TOTAL |
| Breckenridge | 20.0 |
| Vail | 17.0 |
| Loveland | 15.0 |
| Eldora | 13.5 |
| Copper | 13.0 |
| Steamboat | 12.0 |
| Abasin | 10.0 |
| Monarch | 10.0 |
| Cooper | 9.0 |
| Sunlight | 9.0 |
| Silverton | 8.0 |
| Winter Park | 8.0 |
| Beaver Creek | 7.0 |
| Snowmass | 6.0 |
| Telluride | 6.0 |
| Aspen Mountain | 5.0 |
| Buttermilk | 5.0 |
| Crested Butte | 5.0 |
| Keystone | 5.0 |
| Aspen Highlands | 4.0 |
| Powderhorn | 4.0 |
| Echo | 1.0 |
| Durango | 0.0 |
| Wolf Creek | 0.0 |
Joel
I was singing your praises all weekend at Breck when we were celebrating your correct forecast in knee deep pow. Thanks for the good work.
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Joel Gratz Reply:
February 16th, 2010 at 3:10 PM
Awesome! Glad to hear it worked out…nothing beats a great powder day (weekend)! And another one is coming up…
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Hey Joel, Steamboat storm total was 15″ between Fri and Sun… 5am reports were 3″ Fri, 7″ Sat, 5″ Sun.
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Joel Gratz Reply:
February 16th, 2010 at 3:46 PM
I upped it from 10″ to 12″…counting the morning reports for Sat, Sun, and Mon, since each kinda refers to the previous day. That would be 7″ + 5″ = 12″. Not a perfect way of doing it, but at least it’s consistent. Thanks for pointing out the mistake…verified it with the twitter feed: http://www.twitter.com/steamboatinfo
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We fondly refer to the dummy in that cop car as “Patrol Dummy.” He’s the law in this town.
I’m hoping for another big weekend here in Vail. Had a killer day on Sunday; we found some stashes that were thigh deep!
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Joel, two feet on Buf. Pass. Epic backcountry skiing on Sunday. Great website!
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Joel Gratz Reply:
February 16th, 2010 at 4:40 PM
Thanks! Buff Pass always does very well…usually 2x more than Steamboat reports.
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Joel,
I look forward to your updates like a fat kid looks forward to cake. Thanks, keep it up…and if you can keep snow in the forecast until May 1st, I’d appreciate it.
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Joel Gratz Reply:
February 16th, 2010 at 4:41 PM
Mmm…cake…maybe I should have that before dinner tonight.
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Joel,
Nice meeting you in Aspen the other night. Great forcast.
I have been waiting for this kinda forcast all winter.
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Joel Gratz Reply:
February 16th, 2010 at 4:50 PM
Thanks for coming to the talk in Aspen! I am excited about the forecast as well!
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Figures. One of the few powder weekends of the year north of I-70 and I was stuck in Denver with Bronchitis. Glad to hear there is more snow on the way this weekend. Thanks for the forecast Joel!
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East vail was goooood over the weekend….
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pig9htFchNA
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Joel Gratz Reply:
February 17th, 2010 at 11:49 AM
Cool vids…thanks for sharing. I think east Vail will only get deeper, especially by Mon/Tues.
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This forecast is looking good…real good. How come I don’t feel so bad to see Wolf Creek on the bottom of last week’s list? I want to send my regards for not employing the gas stations from Summit to Saguache County. See you again soon…
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Joel Gratz Reply:
February 17th, 2010 at 11:50 AM
Yeppers…it feels good to spread the love, eh? Wolf Creek and the San Juans might do pretty well this weekend…or at least they’ll do a lot better than last weekend. Stay tuned!
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any of those snow totals gonna be hitting winter park?
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Joel Gratz Reply:
February 17th, 2010 at 11:51 AM
Yup…Winter Park should also have a pretty good weekend…maybe up to double digits from Thurs>Sun. But with the moist flow coming more from the west than from the northwest, I think places like Steamboat, Beaver Creek, and the Aspen area will see more snow than WP.
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Dan Hickstein Reply:
February 17th, 2010 at 12:05 PM
Hi Joel, Does west flow favor Beaver Creek over Vail? Could you post your “flow direction —> favored resorts decoder ring” at some point? I looked at the figure with the map and the arrows in your slideshow, and it makes it clear that Vail and BC are favored in W/NW and that Summit country is favored in N flow, but are there trends for the individual resorts. I.e., can I predict from the flow direction if BC will win over Vail or if Abasin will beat keystone?
Many thanks for your forecast,
Dan
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Joel Gratz Reply:
February 17th, 2010 at 12:12 PM
Good idea…I’ll try to post an easy list of Resort vs. Flow Direction today. IN short, west flow favors Beaver Creek over Vail, while Northwest flow favors Vail over Beaver Creek. Abasin and Keystone usually do best in North or NNW flow, and Abasin will likely do a bit better than keystone in most situations (likely because of the higher elevation).
Often, the trick is figuring out what direction the flow will be from. Sometimes it’s simple (i.e. last weekend with NW flow hammering Vail), but this upcoming 4-5 days is quite variable with the wind direction changing every 12-18hrs, so the forecast is not as easy.
Dan Hickstein Reply:
February 17th, 2010 at 12:25 PM
Thanks! It’s generally not that hard to figure out the wind direction; this Joel Gratz guy generally just tells us
Hey i am going to be going to crested butte this weekend how will it be friday saturday and sunday? will the storms on friday and sunday still hit there?
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Joel Gratz Reply:
February 17th, 2010 at 11:56 AM
Crested Butte could do VERY WELL this weekend. The details are still changing, but I think it’ll be a great weekend to be down there…nice timing!
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WP update, snowed all day, but seemed too warm to accumulate. Nice and soft, and I am stoked that I will be back at it Sat. Thanks for the awesome forecasting. Oh, and the talk w/ power point was hilarious. Go get some this weekend!!
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NOAA is showing snow fri-sun here is the SW, any ideas of when it might hit hardest? (specifically purg, wolfy)
thanks i love the site!!
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