A milder and stronger storm with close to 1" of precipitable water and 1/2 to 1 foot of snow for 49N, Mt Spokane, and Schweitzer today and tonight, is moving into the Northwest US. Roughly 1/2 foot of snow is expected to Lookout Pass, then more snow there into tomorrow/ Monday. Snow levels are expected to be near 4,000 feet (resort base elevations) under a southwest wind flow across the mountains, and a moisture tap from the subtropics.

Monday looks like we should see some sunshine as we are mostly between storms, but snow lingers for Lookout Pass. Monday night, we are seeing snow again. This storm moves in more from the west, with a strong pressure gradient and very strong winds expected on Tuesday and Tuesday night, under strong jet stream dynamics, when 1 to 2 feet of snow are expected across the regions resorts. Snow levels will be a close call, up above resort bases at times near 5,000+ feet, so some rain is expected at times at base elevations. If the jet stream ends up a bit more south, snow levels will be lower.

Wednesday we see clouds clearing and cool temperatures from 49N to Schweitzer, and lingering snow for Lookout Pass, with fresh new snow to ski and board on Wednesday under now building high pressure ridging aloft and exiting low pressure/ moisture/ dynamics, and decreasing winds... By Thursday we are squarely under high pressure ridging aloft, with milder temperatures and less wind expected, though a quick shot of snow moves through Thursday afternoon through overnight.

LONGER RANGE: Friday and through the weekend (21st - 23rd) we expect a couple of low pressure systems to move through with potential snowfall, looking light to moderate at this point, but MORE snow nonetheless. Right now probably 2-5" of snow from each storm is the best bet, but of course we will monitor and update. Christmas Eve and Christmas Day a stronger and possibly juicier storm moves through the area with a better shot of heavier snow just in time for these days off. A couple of days later around the 27th-29th, another couple of storms may move through with a last blast of snow before a potential 2 week down time under high pressure ridging and dry/ milder conditions. By the 10th-15th of January we should be back into a regular storm cycle... CM

Mostly light additional snow, then a mostly sunny weekend, and  more snow next Tuesday and Wednesday (heavier)!

HOW ARE WE DOING (please contact chris@snowforecast.com or comment below)? Let us know please...

Light snow for most areas including Aspen, and  across southwest Colorado...

-The latest storm absolutely dumped RAIN and snow across southern California, is headed mainly along the Mexico border now, and taking a southern track... El Nino style, with a few" of snow across southwest Colorado to Aspen's mountains, under a moist southwest flow of moisture across the mountains, while most energy passes to the south

This coming weekend we expect a high pressure ridge to build in, with cooler air dragged into Colorado initially on Saturday, as the southern tracking low pressure system exits (northwest/ north flow of winds from the colder north), and sunshine pops through in the then drier air... Powder + sunshine, what Colorado is known for!

LONGER RANGE:
It looks like El Nino is not an official anomaly yet, as I expected in my September LR forecast (for Aspen and SW Colorado / For northern Colorado resorts) so we are in an ENSO Neutral phase, though in the latest update from NOAA, we are seeing warming waters, still a weak El Nino at best. This may explain the more southerly tracking storm systems we have seen, and will likely see in the coming weeks of December and January. CM

Next week, the 11th onward, we expect a couple of snow storms and some moderate to significant snow for western Colorado. Because these look like strong and cold systems (ask Niseko, Japan) with a good fetch of moisture across the Pacific, they are capable of good snowfall across all of western Colorado if the track is right (a bit more north). It looks like 2 storms total for next week, one Tuesday/ Wednesday and another late next week. CM

(NO CHANGE from the last LR update) : It is looking like we may see a busy time as we approach the Christmas and New Year holiday period, with some significant storms possibly lining up to affect all of the western US including Colorado... We expect to see a 7-14 day period of down time and mostly sunny skies following this series of storms, that may start around/ after Christmas. In January we see that down time to start the month (a week-ish), then storms should kick in again on a more regular basis, but possibly favoring northern resorts this time as the east coast gets hit hard and these systems brush mainly northern Colorado. More updates are coming. Do you have any ideas on what you want to see in our discussions? Please contact through the site! We do not charge for any of our info, and have been providing it all for free since 1998, "Predicting Sick Days since 1998"! CM