Date: 03/23/2018
Last night, the National Weather Service described this storm as holding record-breaking levels of moisture for a late March storm. The hitch is that the storm lacks the uplift and cooling necessary to drive historic snowfall.
That said, a lot of water has fallen out of the sky and there’s more on the way this morning. Current snowfall totals above 11,000′ range from 6″ to 8″ as of 6am, but that snow contains over an inch of water, meaning it’s unusually dense snow. The highest precipitation rates of this storm are yet to come, with a rager of a blizzard this morning above treeline.
By early afternoon, the storm will taper off, just in time for a sharp uptick in Westerly winds for the afternoon.
The good news for the Grand Traversers is that tonight, the winds will die down, temperatures will cool, making for an incredibly pleasant ski running conditions. Given the high moisture content in this snow, don’t forget to wax your skins.
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Today
High Temperature: 32, falling throughout the day
Winds/Direction: 20 to 30, gusting to 50 in the PM
Sky Cover: Overcast
Irwin Snow: 10″ to 12″
Elkton Snow: 10″ to 12″
Friend’s Hut Snow: 8″ to 10″In downtown Crested Butte, we’ll be lucky to pick up 2″ of dense snow.
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Tonight
Low Temperature: 10, colder above 12,000′
Winds/Direction: 5 to 10, West
Sky Cover: Partly Cloudy
Irwin Snow: 0
Elkton Snow: 0
Friend’s Hut Snow: 0 -
Tomorrow
High Temperature: 35
Winds/Direction: 10 to 20, gusting to 30, Southwest
Sky Cover: Mostly Cloudy
Irwin Snow: 0
Elkton Snow: 0
Friend’s Hut Snow: 0