Back-to-back April storms to drop snow across Colorado High Country
John LaConte/Vail Daily
Two April storms could bring snow to the high reaches of Colorado’s northern and central mountains, following record-breaking warm temperatures during the second half of March.
Several Western Slope counties received red flag warnings on Monday, as a combination of strong winds and warm temperatures between 50 and 70 degrees created critical fire weather conditions. By Wednesday, however, temperatures will drop to the 40s and 50s across mountain towns, accompanied by notable snow in the central and southern mountains.
The first storm of the week will arrive Tuesday night, with several Western Slope counties seeing snow or rain through Thursday morning, according to a Monday report from OpenSnow.
Central and southern mountain resorts, like Purgatory and Aspen, could see total snow accumulation around 8-16 inches for the first storm, compared to 3-8 inches for northern mountain resorts, like Vail, Breckenridge and Winter Park. The snow/rain line will likely be around 8,000 feet, according to the report, meaning that lower elevation valleys could see more rain.
A winter weather advisory from the National Weather Service states several mountain towns — including Aspen, Snowmass and Vail — could see winds gusting as high as 40 mph from Tuesday afternoon to Wednesday night. Difficult travel conditions on some of the mountain passes could impact morning and evening commutes on Wednesday.
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The second storm will deliver snow and colder temperatures from Thursday night to Saturday morning, though the storm will lack moisture. Snow totals for the northern and central mountains are expected to be in the 3-10 inch range.
“It’ll look more like winter on Wednesday and feel more like winter on Friday into Saturday with colder temperatures. But our base is decimated in most areas, so ride carefully and remember that it might be pretty darn thin under this week’s new snow,” OpenSnow Founding Meteorologist Joel Gratz wrote in the report.
Another storm could be possible around April 8-10, according to OpenSnow, though it’s too early to tell. In the meantime, Colorado’s well-below-average snowpack has fallen to 24% of the median for March 30.
