Date:

This morning’s radar show’s precipitation extending from the California coast to Utah. A deep atmospheric river of moisture floods into the Elk Mountains this afternoon. The jet stream sags over Colorado, so the new snow will be accompanied by moderate to strong winds near and above treeline. Snow showers kick off this afternoon, but the real show doesn’t start until sunset. Snowfall ramps up through the night and we should see rates exceeding 1″ per hour from midnight into tomorrow morning. Lingering orographic showers will fuel a couple more inches tomorrow, but we’ll see a lull in the action as the jet lifts northward. There is some model uncertainty on the next surge of moisture, which will show up sometime mid week.

Date: 12/09/2016

Our appetizer of a storm developed mid afternoon yesterday and steady snowfall accumulated nicely across our forecast area. Snow will taper off as the day wears on, but Saturday afternoon looks promising. Temperatures are not normally a big talking point, but warmer Pacific air has overrun our arctic blast and temperatures are sitting 20-30º warmer, than yesterday at 5am.

For today, look for skies begin to break midday, snow to subside, and west-southwest winds to remain light. Our next push of moisture arrives early Saturday afternoon, and looks like a solid upper cut to Elk Mountains.

Date: 12/08/2016

Cold temperatures and light winds will headline today’s weather, as a temporary ridge of high pressure slides over the Central Rockies today before a prolonged shift to an active zonal flow (west to east) brings steady snowfall and significant accumulations from a moist Pacific tap. You may even smell pineapples.

Look for low intensity, light snowfall to develop first in the higher terrain late this afternoon, and continue overnight. By Friday morning, area mountains could see 3-6” new snow, with higher amounts possible in the Kebler and Schofield Pass areas. Ridge top winds look to range between 10-25 mph with this initial shot of snow, and temperatures should moderate over the next few days.

Date: 12/07/2016

The cold front that brought blustery winds and an intense burst of snowfall last night is now stalling out over southern Colorado. Cold, arctic air is filling in its wake. Mountain temperatures are hovering near zero this morning and will be slow to climb into the single digits. A transient high pressure ridge will bring clearing skies and a warming trend tomorrow, before we enter into an extended period of active weather under zonal flow, kicked off by a broad trough sagging into Colorado from the Northwest.

Date: 12/06/2016

A shortwave trough is approaching from the northwest this morning. Snowfall should spread into the Elk Mountains around noon today. Winds will increase and snowfall will intensify as the trough and associated cold front pass overnight. Look for 4″-8″ before the trough exits with an arctic air mass in its place on Wednesday under cold northwest flow. Dig out those extra puffy layers…it will be the coldest temps of the season. We’ll see a brief clearing on Thursday before snowy weather returns through the weekend.

Date: 12/05/2016

Clouds began increasing late yesterday afternoon with overcast skys last night, allowing for a frost free windshield this morning and warmer overnight temps than yesterday. Winds also began increasing as we are looking at a blustery couple of days coming up. From now through Wednesday, the jet stream will be sagging south and building a trough of low presser while allowing cold arctic air to descend south. This system will favor Northern Colorado as they begin accumulating some snow today. We may see a couple inches in the mountains north of Crested Butte today, but really we’re waiting for a better shortwave trough to spread snow across Colorado on Tuesday Night. Wednesday will bring a drying trend into Thursday. As this cold are begins to descend into our area tonight, be prepared for the coldest temperatures of the season on Wednesday and Thursday morning.

Date: 12/04/2016

Grab that sunscreen and get out to enjoy this beautiful day before we see the temperatures plunge next week. Warmer temps and light winds today will begin changing late this afternoon and this evening as a trough of low pressure starts sagging into Wyoming. This trough will allow cold arctic air to descend into Colorado tomorrow. Building clouds this evening will allow low temperatures to hold in the teens and begin to warm tomorrow morning before this cold air infiltrates into central Colorado later in the day as we see those temperatures drop. This cold front will bring low density snow to Colorado, favoring Northern Colorado on Monday. Then we’ll see our better chance of snow on Tuesday. Light snow showers will likely linger on Wednesday before a couple days of dryer weather later this week.

Date: 12/03/2016

A deep Pacific trough is digging across the desert Southwest this morning, and an embedded shortwave passing to our north could squeeze out a few orographic flakes in our northern peaks. We’ll see a clearing and warming trend tomorrow as that wave is followed by a brief and weak high pressure ridge. The next storm is on track for Monday through Wednesday. We’ll take a closer look at that tomorrow

Date: 12/03/2016

A deep Pacific trough is digging across the desert Southwest this morning, and an embedded shortwave passing to our north could squeeze out a few orographic flakes in our northern peaks. We’ll see a clearing and warming trend tomorrow as that wave is followed by a brief and weak high pressure ridge. The next storm is on track for Monday through Wednesday. We’ll take a closer look at that tomorrow

Date: 12/02/2016

We will see mostly cloudy skies with light snow developing throughout the day before tapering off this evening. Just a a few inches of snow can be expected by this upper level disturbance passing over the central Rockies. Winds look well behaved, light northwest winds up high. For the weekend, we dry out with warmer temperatures and strong sun before a good shot a snow early next week. Water cooler snow estimate… 6-12” by next Wednesday, 18” at Kebler/Schofield. Just to make things interesting..