You should tell your boss that on Thursday – April fools day – you will coming to work as usual. Then, on Wednesday night, play the best joke of all on your boss and get to the mountains of choice to await some excellent powder on Thursday (and Friday).
April is lookin’ good, as two good storms are on tap for the next seven days. More details below.
Help Yourself
If you have been involved in an avalanche incident, please check out this survey from Backcountry Access. The survey helps them with product development, and you can remain anonymous. If you choose to share some personal info with them, they’ll make it worth you while and send you some goodies.
Also, there are some great end-of-season deals for the last few weeks of the season. Check out these specials from Colorado Ski Country and from Vail Resorts.
Oh, and if you’re heading to Keystone, here’s a new iPhone App called Visit Keystone (iTunes Link) that will help you find what you want and save you a few bucks.
Big snow on April Fools
Snow – it’s the gift that just keeps on giving, well into spring. A big storm is aimed at Colorado, and this storm will bring VERY heavy snow to the San Juans on Wednesday night into Thursday morning. By midday Thursday through Thursday night, snow should spread across the rest of the state, making Friday a great powder day for most places.
Details on the Quick Forecast page (1-2 FEET in some spots).
Here is a Water Vapor image of the storm (blue/green = more moisture). It’s a big guy, and it’s going to hit almost all of the Colorado mountains.
Convection is your friend
The storm last Friday threw down quite a bit of snow (20-24″ in Telluride and Silverton). The reason? A few bursts of convection, or what we normally call thunderstorms in the summer. Though winter-time convection isn’t as strong as summer convection (usually no lightning and thunder), the result can still be very heavy precipitation. The upcoming storm will also produce some convection on Thursday afternoon, potentially putting down lots of snow in short time.
Awesome, Joel. Your forecasts are incredibly useful for deciding when to get “sick” and play hookie from work.
Thanks for putting up our survey. We value information like this from the trenches.
I was in Lake Tahoe when this storm came through yesterday. It was nuking! So I plan to come down with something serious on Friday…
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Joel Gratz Reply:
March 31st, 2010 at 8:59 AM
Hope the survey gets you some great data.
And I’m surprised – YOU of all people, working at BCA, have to take a “sick” day to do some on-snow research? That’s crazy…:-)
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Thanks Joel! Great looking update.
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I’m driving from Boulder to Utah Thursday evening for skiing on Friday with friends. I hope that’s not blasphemous on this particular site, but I was wondering if you recommend I-80 over I-70, considering the weather. I’m obviously looking to decrease my odds of getting stuck in the storm. Thanks Joel.
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Joel Gratz Reply:
March 31st, 2010 at 11:14 AM
I HATE I-80 through Wyoming…that road is terrible and VERY prone to closing. I’d vote to take I-70. It might be slow Thursday evening until you get to Glenwood, but should be better from there…
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Any thought on snow amounts for the est side of the Flat Tops out of this Storm? Thanks
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Joel Gratz Reply:
April 1st, 2010 at 7:44 AM
About a foot sounds right…probably more (up to 2 feet?) on the SW and NW sides of the flattops.
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Or you can take 40 through steamboat. It is just about 5 hours from here to park city.
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I see the southern mountains didn’t get anywhere near the snow totals you forecasted for Wed/Wed night. Did the storm weaken? Shift paths? Should tomorrow (Friday) still be good in the Vail area?
Thanks!
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Joel Gratz Reply:
April 1st, 2010 at 7:49 AM
Thanks for “keeping me honest”:-) The storm was a little slower, so the heaviest snow is just getting going for the southern San Juans this morning.
As for Vail on Friday, it’s always a bit of a crap shoot in northwest flow. Moist winds from the northwest should bring good snows to Vail Thursday afternoon through Friday morning, so I’m hopeful of a good powder morning. But…it’s hard to track this ahead of time (the computer models don’t forecast it very well) and without nightime cams, it’s hard to see the snow falling at night on the upper mountains.
I still feel good about Friday morning being a good time to ride…if that changes, I’ll update the site by Thurs PM.
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Justin Reply:
April 1st, 2010 at 7:59 AM
Thank you Joel.
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Hey Joel, is the storm coming in a little later than ex
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Joel Gratz Reply:
April 1st, 2010 at 10:37 AM
A little later and weaker for the south – yes. But should be snowing pretty hard right now.
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…expected? I was planning on heading down to silverton from boulder this afternoon to ski friday and/or Saturday and was wondering what your thoughts were…. Still think is gonna dump?
Thanks!
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Joel Gratz Reply:
April 1st, 2010 at 10:39 AM
Friday should still be a fun day at Silverton. Over a foot likely by Fri AM…maybe 18″?
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Mt_wilson Reply:
April 1st, 2010 at 10:41 AM
Thanks Joel ur the man
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As of 10 am thursday morning we had received 5 inches of heavy wet snow at our house west of Steamboat. Currently dumping and windy. If we are getting this out of the sw flow, when it shifts around the the nw this afternoon and gets colder…
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Joel Gratz Reply:
April 1st, 2010 at 10:40 AM
Yup…should be a good storm for your guys, with the lower density, “fun” snow coming this PM and overnight.
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Thanks for the heads up Joel! Leaving Boulder for Silverton after class at 6, should make it in time to ride tomorrow, and then Saturday. Very excited
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Any chance we can get an updated forecast Joel? I’m thinking about heading to Wolf Creek but only if they get dumped on…
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Joel Gratz Reply:
April 1st, 2010 at 3:30 PM
Well, they might crack the 12″ mark by later tonight…definitely not as big of a storm as I hoped. The snow started late and ended early, with another batch tonight for a few hours. I’m sure WC will ski well, but it won’t be one of those HUGE storms.
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Mike Reply:
April 1st, 2010 at 3:43 PM
Thanks for the update. What do you think the storm totals will be for Beaver Creek and Vail?
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Joel Gratz Reply:
April 1st, 2010 at 5:27 PM
About a foot. Tough to say because I don’t know how much fell today, but tonight/Fri AM should see some decent snow. Best guess here (updated): http://www.coloradopowderforecast.com/quick-forecast/
Thanks so much for the forcasts! Keep ‘em coming!
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Vail skied very well today, didn’t spend any time on the frontside, but north-facing slopes of Blue Sky and environs hid most of the crust. The south-facing parts of the back bowls were a different story…the crust was noticeable even with Megawatts. I’d up the totals to 15″+ in the favored spots. Snowed on and off, the sun poked through, great day.
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Joel Gratz Reply:
April 5th, 2010 at 10:28 AM
Good to get this on-the-ground reports. Thanks!
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just got back from vail and what a great day it was. there was def a foot down and probably picked up an inch or two during the day. the weather was nuts in the back. Blue sky basin was really blue sky today while at the bowls it was snowing fairly heavily. thanks for the heads up again joel!
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Hey man! Please send me that link for the donation we talked about. Also; any long term outlook for abasin to mid aprik? Sorry for the crystal ball request but having a little beach party on 4-17.
Thanks.
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Hey Joel, I am racing skiercross nationals on wednesday i was wondering what you think the weather and temperatures will be like, so i can decide on a wax.
thanks
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Joel Gratz Reply:
April 5th, 2010 at 10:30 AM
Where is the event? What time of day?
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