ߣÏÈÉú

YOUR AD HERE »

A white Christmas for Colorado’s mountains? Here’s what weather experts are saying.

Sledders enjoy the snow Saturday in Avon. The hill at the elementary school is a popular sledding spot. Those hoping for a white Christmas are in luck, as snow is expected to fall Wednesday in Colorado's mountains.
Chris Dillmann/Vail Daily

Colorado’s Rocky Mountains continue to slog through an extended dry period, with only a smattering of light snowfall keeping mountain areas refreshed in recent weeks. 

Chances for more snow could increase heading into the final days of December, including Christmas Day. Following dry and sunny conditions on Christmas Eve on Tuesday, Wednesday morning is expected to be mostly cloudy with light snow developing later in the day. 

“By the afternoon, there should be some showers developing to give us a taste of a white Christmas,” said National Weather Service meteorologist Dave Barjenbruch.



The storm is anticipated to hit most mountain areas, bringing around 2-5 inches of accumulation that day, wrote OpenSnow founding meteorologist Joel Gratz

“On Wednesday night, a wind direction from the northwest should give a little ‘pop’ to the snow over the northern and central mountains with a few inches of accumulation, which could lead to soft/fun conditions on Thursday morning, though I have lower confidence in this,” Gratz wrote. “The rest of Thursday will be dry.”

Support Local Journalism




Multiple waves of snow could return this weekend, with a first round delivering a few inches Thursday night in the northern mountains, with some accumulation possible also in central mountain areas. 

A second wave is possible on Friday night, bringing between 3-8 inches, with northern mountain areas favored to receive the highest amounts “and still respectable amounts in the central mountains and the northern part of the southern mountains,” such as Telluride and Silverton, Gratz wrote. 

“The timing of the snow on Friday night means that Saturday morning could offer legitimate powder,” he added. “The other important factor is that the snow from Thursday night should soften the base a little bit, allowing this snow on Friday night to fall on a softer surface.”

Here’s what OpenSnow is predicting for snow totals at major ski areas through Friday: 

  • Steamboat ߣÏÈÉú Resort: 12 inches
  • Aspen Snowmass: 8 inches
  • Vail Mountain: 7 inches
  • Beaver Creek Resort: 7 inches
  • Winter Park Resort: 7 inches 
  • Arapahoe Basin ߣÏÈÉú Area: 6 inches
  • Loveland ߣÏÈÉú Area: 6 inches 
  • Breckenridge ߣÏÈÉú Resort: 5 inches
  • Keystone Resort: 5 inches
  • Copper Mountain Resort: 5 inches

Snow could fall again on Dec. 30 and 31 “with the possibility of a moderate or even significant storm at some point” during the first week of January, Gratz stated. 

According to an 8-14 day outlook , Colorado’s northern and central mountain areas have as much as a 40% chance of seeing above-normal precipitation and temperatures through Jan. 5.

While major storms continue to precipitate along the West Coast, Colorado remains mostly on the fringes of those systems, said Barjenbruch. 

“It looks like, overall, we’re still on the edge of a more significant snow track,” Barjenbruch said. “Meanwhile, the Western U.S. … will continue to see one storm after another that comes in.”

While the state’s snowpack surged in November amid several major storms, levels dropped below normal midway through this month. Snowpack is tracked by looking at the snow-water equivalent, a measurement that shows how much liquid water is held within the state’s snowfields. 

According to , snowpack for the whole of Colorado sat at 85% of the 30-year median as of Monday. In the Colorado Headwaters River Basin, which encompasses the bulk of the state’s ski areas, snowpack was only slightly higher at 89%. 

Gratz predicts statewide levels will remain well below normal through at least early January even as levels begin to trend slightly upward over the next week. 


Support Local Journalism