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It’s one of the busiest skiing weekends of the season. And… after being fairly dry for most of the month…several beneficial storms are on the way.
First things first. Given the expected crowds and the incoming storms, give yourself plenty of extra time to get to the slopes this weekend and if you have a season pass such as IKON or EPIC, check your pass type online or on your mobile app to make sure your pass doesn’t have blackout dates for the resort you want to visit.
This evening…snow showers are ongoing in parts of the high country. While we don’t have the totals for today yet we can talk totals from the past week. Purgatory notched the most snow in the last 7 days with 9 inches, Wolf Creek is up eight, Breckenridge up 7…with most snow from all three resorts falling in the last 48 hours.
This weekend we’re tracking several mountain snowstorms. Pacific moisture arrives on Friday leading to snow for most resorts and winter driving conditions. This set up is called orographic forcing in meteorology - basically we're taking a bunch of moisture and running it into the mountains. With no other option available, the air rises, which leads to enhanced precipitation.
Snow should be more confined to the northern mountains on Saturday and Sunday. Another round of more widespread mountain snow will arrive on Monday.
Temperatures are another story - they're mild through the weekend (highs generally in the 30s in most spots - warm for this time of year), before plunging following a cold front Monday night leading to highs in the teens on New Year's Eve as skies finally clear.
Because this is an orographic forced set up, no individual system in the next few days will bring you tons of powder. But the almost constant train of small storms will add up. By the end of Friday, I expect our central mountains to pick up a widespread eight to twelve inches. By New Year’s Eve…Vail could have up to two feet of new snow with many resorts clocking 12-18". Our snowpack is running around eighty-five percent of average statewide so this is good news for moisture too.
It's also shaping up to be another windy weekend. Friday’s breezes will favor eastern slopes with downslope winds out of the west during the afternoon. Those winds will be intense early Saturday before first chair - to the point you may here them outside your window if you're in a ski town Saturday. The rest of Saturday will be windy in general and is not a good beginner day. You can expect new snow to blow around reducing visibility. Sunday is still breezy but better than Saturday. I expect the strongest wind Sunday will be in the northern Front Range resorts like Winter Park where you’ll still be noticing gusts in the 30 mile per hour range.
Remember that many newer and infrequent skiers will be hitting the slopes this weekend. It’s a great time of the year to practice some Colorado kindness, and pack your patience.
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