Next round of heavy snowfall (11-16 inches) for Colorado forecast for upcoming weekend
The coldest low temperatures of the season so far are now gone and more snow is coming to Colorado’s high country for the last weekend of January.
An active period this weekend, mid-next week, and the first weekend of February are forecast to regularly bring moderate snow amounts each round.
Recap:
Two final days of below-freezing temperatures welcomed skiers and riders at Colorado’s ski areas and resorts.
The National Weather Service in Boulder recorded a high at Copper Mountain on Monday of 1 degree and Tuesday of -4 degrees. The NWS office in Grand Junction recorded a high at Aspen on both Monday and Tuesday of 9 degrees.
On Monday morning, a low temperature of -18 degrees was recorded by a CAIC weather station atop the Peak 8 summit at Breckenridge.
Forecast:
Snow began falling from a ‘clipper’ storm brushing northern Colorado on Tuesday night.
Snow will continue Wednesday through Thursday mid-day, but low accumulation totals will come from this fast-moving storm.
Snowfall totals in the northern mountains are forecast to be between 3-5 inches, in the central mountains between 1-3 inches, and in the southern mountains between a trace-1 inch, with the northern side of the San Juan Mountains and the Sangre de Cristo Mountains seeing the highest amounts.
An ECMWF Total snowfall, Kuchera (in) forecast model map of Colorado from 11 a.m., Tuesday, Jan. 21 to 8 a.m., Thursday, Jan. 23, 2025.
According to Purgatory Mountain Resort’s website, the resort reports that only 69 inches of snow has fallen all season and has received only five inches of snow in January.
On Thursday, soft snow and cold temperatures will be the flavors of the day on-hill, with highs in the single digits to low teens.
Starting Friday, a larger and longer-living storm pattern enters Colorado —again on a northwest flow — yet this one should produce better snowfall totals statewide.
An ECMWF 500 mb Height (dam), Wind (kt) forecast model loop of the US from 5 a.m., Tuesday, Jan. 21 to 11 a.m., Monday Jan. 27, 2025.
Winds are forecast to start from the northwest on Friday but will shift to westerly flowing overnight Saturday through Saturday, then shift again to west southwest overnight Sunday. Snow will continue Sunday into overnight Monday.
Snowfall totals from this storm in the northern mountains are forecast to be between 6-10 inches, with the highest amounts in the Park Range, Medicine Bow Range, Summit County, and along the Continental Divide.
In the central mountains snowfall totals range between 3-5 inches and in the southern mountains between 2-4 inches.
An ECMWF Total snowfall, Kuchera (in) forecast model map of Colorado from 5 a.m., Tuesday, Jan. 21 to 5 a.m., Monday, Jan. 27, 2025.
Additional snow is forecast to fall from Monday through early Wednesday, but mostly in the southern mountains/south of Crested Butte.
Long range:
From Thursday, Jan. 30 to Monday, Feb. 3, Colorado should be between storms for five or six days before another storm system potentially wanders into the state from the north, bringing snow to the entire state for two to three days during the first week of February.
Today’s 24-hour snow totals from Colorado resorts:
Arapahoe Basin – 0″
Aspen Highlands – 0″
Aspen Mountain – 0″
Beaver Creek – 0″
Breckenridge – 0″
Buttermilk – 0″
Cooper – 0″
Copper Mountain – 0″
Crested Butte – 0″
Echo Mountain – 0″, plus tubing
Eldora Mountain – 0″
Granby Ranch – 0″
Hesperus – Closed for the season
Howelsen Hill – 0″
Kendall Mountain – 0″
Keystone – 0″
Loveland – 0″
Monarch – 0″
Powderhorn – 0″
Purgatory – 0″
Silverton – 0″
Snowmass – 0″
Steamboat – 0″
Sunlight – 0″
Telluride – 0″
Vail – 0″
Winter Park – 0″
Wolf Creek – 0″
(Contact Denver Gazette digital producer Jonathan Ingraham at jonathan.ingraham@denvergazettedev.gazette.com or on X at @Skingraham and Instagram at @Skingraham311.)
