Date: 01/16/2016

Embedded shortwaves under strong northwest flow continue to bring unsettled weather to our mountains. We should see a short lull and some patchy sunshine today before the next disturbance arrives tonight into tomorrow. We’ll be on the southern edge of the system, and our favored northern and western mountains should pick up another decent shot of snow before a brief respite on Monday. Look for 4-8″ by the end of the weekend under continued moderate to strong alpine winds.

Date: 01/15/2016

Moist northwest to west flow with several embedded shortwaves will keep snowy weather in the forecast through the weekend. The first pulse left us with upwards of 8″ of low density fluff in favored locations, The next pulse is moving in this morning from the northwest, showing decent moisture and precipitation upstream. Winds will swing around to the northwest as this system drops 3-5″ of snow today, perhaps more in favored locations. Saturday brings a lull in the action before another shortwave arrives Saturday night with continued light snowfall.

Date: 01/14/2016

Our recent clear sky weather and calm winds are no more as three disturbances will move through our area heading into the weekend. The first disturbance moves in today, but there isn’t anything to impressive about it. Bet we’ll see a trace of snow in CB and maybe a couple inches in the favored areas west of town by Friday morning. The next in the series moves in on Friday, this storm has a more available moisture and better dynamics, but it will be passing through the area quickly. So the bursts of snowfall will be short lived. The next storm then comes in around Saturday night and we don’t have the details for this one yet. In general, we’ll see unsettled weather through the weekend with stronger winds and periods of increased snowfall.

Date: 01/13/2016

Cold valley inversions will once again warm throughout the day with one last sunny day this week. A series of three short waves will then move through our area over the remainder of the week. The first will start arriving tonight with increased clouds and a couple inches of snow tomorrow. We should see better snow accumulation out of the next shortwave passing Thursday night into Friday. This system has better moisture but will move through the area quickly, so snow showers will be shorter lived. Then we’ll see another shortwave moving through around Saturday night. These are just small storms, but combined together they should keep conditions fresh this weekend.

Date: 01/12/2016

It may be cold but at least we’ll have the sun the next couple days. Our weather will continue with inversions and cold valley temperatures today and tomorrow and highs rebounding into the 20’s. The first change in weather will be some high thin clouds building on Wednesday afternoon ahead of a small pacific disturbance arriving Wednesday night. We’ll pick up a little snow by Thursday morning before better moisture/dynamics arrives on Thursday night. We’ll look closer at these forecasted snowfall numbers with the updated model runs tomorrow.

Date: 01/11/2016

High pressure will dominate our weather pattern through the most of the work week, bringing mostly clear skies and strong inversions. Crested Butte is a frigid -25F this morning, while mountain temps are above zero. We’ll see temperatures rise into the 20’s today. This pattern won’t change until Thursday, when a fast-moving shortwave brings a quick bout of unsettled weather.

Date: 01/10/2016

Mountain temperatures are hovering near zero this morning under light to moderate wind speeds. Daytime temps will rise into the teens, as we sit under a cold, northwest flow. An embedded shortwave could spark a few light flurries today in the Paradise Divide and Kebler Areas. A high pressure ridge moves onshore over the West Coast today, and we’ll see clearing skies, with warming temperatures over valley inversions into next week as this feature broadens and moves eastward.

Date: 01/09/2016

We are under cold northwest flow today as the most recent low pressure trough continues to head east. Unfortunately atmospheric moisture is drying out, so this isn’t the type of northwest flow we get excited about. Still we’ll see a few light orographic snow showers today. In between these showers we may see some break up in the clouds allowing the sun to pop through and visibility improve. Low temperatures will continue dropping each night and the overall weather will be mostly the same through the weekend. By Monday night a high pressure ridge will be moving over the area with dry weather working into next week.

Date: 01/08/2016

Our friends to the south are the ones making out as a low pressure trough passes over the four corners region this morning. We’ll see mostly light and variable winds today before becoming northwest tonight and a few light, scattered snow showers. As this flow changes to northwest we may eke out a phat inch but available moisture will be drying out at the same time. We’ll be in this dry northwest flow into the weekend with an increase in wind speeds and a few scattered snow showers.

Date: 01/07/2016

The tail end of last night’s snowfall wave is exiting northeast of our mountains this morning with a dry slot of air in its wake. A couple more inches of snow should accumulate before conditions dry out midday. This dryer period will be shortlived, as next complicated trough begins streaming moisture and some additional atmospheric instability over the West Elks by this evening. Showery weather willcontinue through Friday into Saturday, but accumulations look to be on the lighter side.