Light snow is forecast for much of Colorado’s high country on Monday, plus the coldest air of 2025 and winter 2024-25 are forecast for Monday night.

A ‘clipper’ snow storm is forecast to brush northern Colorado mid week, then a longer-living snow storm enters the state during the last full weekend of January. 

Recap: 

It was very cold at Colorado’s ski areas on Sunday. The National Weather Service in Boulder recorded high temperatures of -7 degrees atop the Eagle Wind chairlift at Winter Park, 1 degree at Loveland Ski Area and Copper Mountain, and 3 degrees at Eldora.

The NWS offices in Grand Junction recorded highs of 0 at Aspen Highlands, 9 degrees at Telluride, 12 degrees at Wolf Creek and the state’s warmest resort, Purgatory, a high of 16 degrees.

The Arctic air mass and accompanying snow left a blanket of snowfall across nearly all of Colorado except the extreme northeastern corner near Julesburg, the extreme southwestern corner near Cortez and in the San Luis Valley.

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Forecast:

Not only will cold make its way back into Colorado on Monday night — the coldest temperatures of 2025 and winter 2024-25 — snow will too, but even with ample moisture in the air still, the atmosphere’s conditions for ‘making snow’ will be on the wrong side of ideal temperatures to produce larger amounts.

For Monday, most forecast models predict all three mountain zones should receive minimal snow accumulations by Tuesday morning, with between 1-3 inches of snow.

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There is still a chance more snow will accumulate, but with high temperatures only forecast to be in the single digits to below zero, don’t expect much yet be happy if a surprise happens.

On Monday night, dangerously cold temperatures will sink the mercury to lows between -20 to -40 or lower for mountain communities like Steamboat, Winter Park, Crested Butte, Silverton, Breckenridge and Aspen. For comparison, the coldest ever recorded temperature in Gunnison was -47 degrees on Dec. 25, 1924.

On Tuesday, the sun is forecast to come back out and warm up the slopes with high temperatures into the low 20s to accompany light snowfall amounts.

On Wednesday, a clipper storm will brush northern Colorado on a northwest flow lasting through Thursday morning, bringing snow to the northern mountains from between 2-4 inches of snow, in the central mountains between 1-3 inches and in the southern mountains between 1-2 inches.

Thursday will be cold again after Wednesday’s storm, with highs in the teens, but Friday will warm up noticeably, with highs in the high 20s and low 30s across the state’s ski areas.

Long range: 

Starting Friday afternoon and lasting through Sunday morning, another northwest flowing snow storm will push into Colorado and bring more snow to the northern and central mountains mostly. The southern mountains should see some snow, but mostly on the northern edge at places like Silverton and Telluride.

This storm is looking to have, a. much warmer temperatures to it and b. good moisture levels in it, meaning conditions could be favorable for higher snowfall totals through the weekend.

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For Monday, Jan. 27 and Tuesday, Jan. 28, the state will be between storms.

On Wednesday, Jan 29, a cut-off low pressure system is looking to track across Arizona and New Mexico, bringing snow to southern Colorado through Thursday evening.

Today’s 24-hour snow totals from Colorado resorts:

Arapahoe Basin – 0″

Aspen Highlands – 1″

Aspen Mountain – 1″

Beaver Creek – 1″

Breckenridge – 1″

Buttermilk – 1″

Cooper – 1″

Copper Mountain – 1″

Crested Butte – 1″

Echo Mountain – 1″, plus tubing

Eldora Mountain – 3″

Granby Ranch – 2″

Hesperus – Closed for the season

Howelsen Hill – 1″

Kendall Mountain – 0″

Keystone – 1″

Loveland – 1″

Monarch – 1″

Powderhorn – 1″

Purgatory – 0″

Silverton – 0″

Snowmass – 1″

Steamboat – 2″

Sunlight – 0″

Telluride – 0″

Vail – 2″

Winter Park – 2″

Wolf Creek – 1″