Weekend snowstorm to deliver significant snow to Colorado’s ski areas, including along I-70 corridor, amid spring break season
Ski areas including Steamboat Resort, Vail Mountain, Copper Mountain, Loveland Ski Area, Arapahoe Basin Ski Area, Winter Park Resort, Breckenridge Ski Resort, Keystone Resort and Aspen-Snowmass are all forecast to receive more than a half foot of fresh snow by Sunday
Aspen Times File photo
A snowstorm that is expected to deliver significant fresh powder to the Colorado Rocky Mountains could also impact weekend ski traffic amid the spring break season.
National Weather Service forecaster Maggie Ideker said the snowstorm is expected to start Thursday evening, March 13, and continue throughout Friday, March 14. The storm could drop between 4-7 inches of snow along the Interstate 70 corridor near Summit County, impacting ski traffic between the mountains and Denver, especially on Friday, Ideker said.
“It’s an all-day snow event for the mountains,” Ideker said. “The worst travel conditions will probably be Friday morning, which will have the heaviest snowfall.”
While snow totals could change as the storm approaches, Ideker said that the snow will be accompanied by high winds, with gusts between 40-50 mph in the mountains on Friday that could result in “localized whiteout conditions” even if snow totals are lower.
Temperatures will remain warm in the mountains, with highs in the high 30s to low 50s, through Thursday, Ideker said. But by Friday, temperatures are expected to drop back below freezing as the brunt of the storm hits the state’s mountains, she said.
The storm is expected to favor Colorado’s southern mountains, with the potential for 10-20 inches between Thursday and Sunday for resorts like Purgatory and Wolf Creek Ski Area, OpenSnow founding meteorologist Joel Gratz wrote in a blog post.
But the state’s northern and central mountains, including ski areas in Summit County, where the snowpack remains higher than anywhere else in the state, could also see between about a half foot and 10 inches by Sunday, Gratz wrote.
Smaller amounts of snow are expected to fall throughout Saturday, creating potential powder conditions on Sunday morning, and the sun and slightly warmer temperatures are likely to return Sunday by midday, Gratz said.
Ski areas including Steamboat Resort, Vail Mountain, Copper Mountain, Loveland Ski Area, Arapahoe Basin Ski Area, Winter Park Resort, Breckenridge Ski Resort, Keystone Resort and Aspen-Snowmass are all forecast to receive more than a half foot by Sunday.
“Friday will likely be the stormiest day with the deepest powder in the southern mountains,” Gratz wrote. “Saturday should have soft conditions everywhere with more snow during the afternoon and night, and Sunday’s first chair could be soft/powdery for most mountains due to some additional snow on Saturday night.”
After this weekend’s snowstorm, there will be a dry period before another wave of snow is expected to hit the mountains between Tuesday, March 18, and Wednesday, March 19, according to forecasters.
Gratz said that the subsequent storm could also make for a powder day at “most mountains” next Wednesday. After that, he said forecasting models are a little less clear, with some models showing continued storms and others pointing toward mostly dry, warmer weather.
