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The Denver Gazette
Over 50" in some spots, Colorado resort still closed Friday: Whiteout daily snow report, March 15
By Jonathan Ingraham jonathan.ingraham@denvergazette.com,
2024-03-15
More snow will fall Friday in the southern mountains while the central and northern mountains receive a break after getting 10-50 inches. Eldora will be closed Friday for safety concerns, however Echo Mountain, Arapahoe Basin, Monarch and Loveland plan to or should open today (check social media sites or web pages for information).
Some mountain roads remain closed Friday, so plan ahead if going skiing or riding.
US 6 Loveland Pass from mile point 222 to 229
CO 9 Hoosier Pass from mile point 64 to 80. (CO 9 is not a viable detour for any vehicles from I-70 - passenger vehicles may stay on I-70)
CO 14 from mile point 61 to 121
CO 46 from mile point 0 to 6
US 6 Clear Creek Canyon mile point 260 to 271
US 285 SB from Morrison CO 8 to Pine Junction from mile 249 to 229
Powder riding from March 14 at Breckenridge and Copper Mountain for Friday's moments of ZEN:
A snowboarder finds flight in the powder snow, a good 5 inches or more, Thursday, March 14, 2024 at Copper Mountain Resort in Copper Mountain, Colorado. Curtis DeVore/Copper Mountain Resort
Recap:
From midnight to 11:59 p.m., Thursday snow pounded the eastern Front Range mountains and along the Continental Divide with between 10-24 inches at the ski areas and resorts across the state. West of the divide, snow accumulations ranged between 2-6 inches new.
The cause of the massive snow accumulations were two low pressure systems, one in southern Arizona and one in western Oklahoma, continuing their pushes of moisture back into Colorado, creating an upslope snow event that lasted the better part of 36 hours.
The low pressure over Oklahoma, however, began pushing eastward overnight, leaving the low pressure in Arizona to continue to deliver snow to southern Colorado.
Forecast:
On Friday as snow winds down over the northern, central and eastern mountains, it will continue and even ramp back up in the southern mountains.
A Weather.us forecast map from the ECMWF model shows the synoptic composite of wind speeds, atmospheric pressure and humidity levels of the air for 4 p.m., Friday, March 15, for the United States. The reds, yellows and oranges represent moister air and the greens, blues and purples represent less moist air. Weather.us
The ECMWF synoptic composite from Weather.us forecasts the wobbling area of low pressure between Las Vegas, Nevada and Yuma, Arizona to stay stationary until Sunday afternoon before beginning to push east across Arizona into New Mexico.
From Friday to Saturday night the heaviest snows will fall at Purgatory, Wolf Creek, Silverton and Kendall. Expect between 10-20 inches, potentially up to 30 inches, with Wolf Creek and Purgatory receiving the highest amounts.
It doesn't appear the snow will push over the San Juan mountains far enough north to give Crested Butte and Monarch heavier snows, however Telluride, Kendall and Silverton should see between 10-15 inches by Sunday morning.
A Weather.us forecast map shows the potential total accumulation levels of water-equivalent precipitation as of 9 a.m., Sunday, March 17 for Colorado. Depending on the density of the snow, one inch of water is equivalent to 10 inches of snow based on a common rule of thumb ratio of 10:1. Weather.us
Saturday and Sunday in the central and northern mountains ski areas and resorts are forecast to have temperatures in the upper 20s and low 30s with light snow throughout each day with between 1-5 inches of accumulations, more in the central mountains.
Long Range:
From Monday to Friday morning, calmer weather will dominate most of Colorado minus Monday and part of Tuesday in the southern mountains as snow showers persist.
Long range forecasts beginning Friday morning are modeling another storm system looking to enter the state from the northwest and deliver snow until Saturday morning. A short break in the action looks like it might happen on Saturday before another storm arrives Sunday morning, this time from the west and southwest.
A Weather.us forecast map from the ECMWF model shows the synoptic composite of wind speeds, atmospheric pressure and humidity levels of the air for 7 a.m., Friday, March 22, for Colorado. The reds, yellows and oranges represent moister air and the greens, blues and purples represent less moist air. Weather.us
More details about these storms will become clear as they get closer, however, it looks like stormy pattern is reappearing for the last 9-10 days of March.
Today's 24 hour and (storm) snow totals from Colorado resorts:
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