Date: 12/16/2014

Warm, southwest flow is streaming clouds over the region this morning. The warm air advection will limit precipitation to light flurries at best. Moisture will deepen on Wednesday ahead of a broad, Pacific trough that moves across the state later this week. The first embeddded shortwave trough arrives late Wednesday, bringing modest snowfall.

Date:

The low pressure system responsible for our resent stormy weather has moved on to Kansas. Orographic snowfall will linger the longest in the western portion of the zone but will otherwise diminish through the day. Moisture is being pulled out of the area and a ridge is approaching from the west making for dryer condition this afternoon. The resent weather system has been complicated and the remainder of the week is looking the same. Forecast models still need to come into agreement, through we can expect overcast skies and chances for light snow through the week.

Date: 12/14/2014

Last nights disturbance is moving out of our area for tacos in New Mexico. We would see a drying trend due to this, but as the trough axis shifts east this morning we’ll be moving into northwest flow. This northwest flow will produce lingering orographic snow showers for our area through the day. The Western portion of our zone, Irwin, Paradise Divide and Schofield will see the best chance for continued snowfall today and into tonight. Any lingering showers should be diminishing by Monday morning. Unsettled weather returns for Wednesday night through Thursday but isn’t looking to impressive at this time.

Date: 12/13/2014

As of 6am, the much anticipated cold front is racing across the Utah desert. This north-south oriented cold front will break the 20-day long drought and bring significant snowfall to the Elk Mountains. Look for the storm to begin warm and wet, and steadily cool off throughout the weekend. South winds average 25-30 mph this morning with stronger speeds above treeline, then wind will decrease this afternoon after the cold front passage around 3pm. Tonight will be the heaviest shot of snow as the winds aloft veer from southwest to westerly, funneling moisture into the Crested Butte area. Sunday we will see continued snow, with forecast models still hinting at total storm accumulations in the 8-14″ range by Monday morning.

Date: 12/12/2014

One more day of dry weather until the strong Pacific storm battering California ejects eastward and brings all this mild, balmy weather to an end. Expect to see high clouds increase today and tomorrow ahead of this storm, and relish those mild temperatures until a cool, moist, fast moving system takes hold of our area mountains Saturday night into Sunday. We should be looking at 5-10 inches of snow, with potential for a bit more by Monday morning.

Date: 12/11/2014

Don’t be bummed by the near-zero temperatures in town this morning. Our mountain stations are downright balmy with temps hovering near freezing and forecasted to rise into the 40’s. Inverted temps with mild mountain weather will continue through Friday. This morning, a strong Pacific trough is landing on the West Coast. As it moves inland, it will split and weaken, with a closed low tracking to our south and bringing snowfall to the Elk Mountains on Saturday evening into Sunday. Its not the most favorable pattern for this area, but we’ll take what we can get, somewhere in the ballpark of 4 to 7″.

Date: 12/10/2014

Its a great day to get into the peaks. High pressure overhead will continue to bring beautiful, mild weather to the mountains, with cold air pooling in the valleys. A change in weather begins on Friday, with winds increasing ahead of a low -pressure trough moving in off of the Pacific. The details are still a little fuzzy, so cross your fingers for the ingredients to line up.

Date: 12/09/2014

Weak high pressure will continue to drive warm and dry conditions through Friday. A Pacific system will work its way over Colorado this weekend. We really need some more creativity with your snow dance routine.

Date: 12/08/2014

Well, if its not going to snow any time soon at least the weather is going to be nice. High thin cirrus clouds will likely be overhead today and tomorrow. The general weather trend through Friday is warm above average temperatures with partly cloudy or mostly sunny skies. Isn’t that exiting!? Forecast models are showing a weather system developing for our area next weekend and we’ll certainly be looking into the details as they develop.

Date: 12/07/2014

Lingering high clouds will continue today as we wait for a small disturbance to move out of northern Colorado. A ridge of high pressure will be moving into our area tonight leading to dryer weather on Monday. The fallowing work week will see continued mostly dry weather and above average temperatures. Late next week is a bit far out to trust weather forecasts, but they are currently suggesting a change in the weather pattern. So we’ll just put all our eggs in that basket and say bring on some change!