Eagle County could get more snow Friday

There’s been a lot to love about this week’s weather, with fresh snow opening new terrain at Vail and Beaver Creek. But there isn’t much new snow coming before Christmas.

Brianna Bealo, a forecaster at the Grand Junction office of the National Weather Service, said the Dec. 18 forecast gives Eagle County a chance for a few inches of fresh snow. But, Bealo added, there isn’t much in the forecast after that.

“It doesn’t look like the next system comes in until Christmas or a little past,” Bealo said.

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The forecasters at OpenSnow.com think the trends lean toward a more stormy pattern early in the new year.

Bealo said the storm expected Friday could be similar to Monday’s storm, which dropped 5 inches on Vail Mountain.

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OpenSnow co-founder Joel Gratz’s Tuesday report indicates that the Friday storm could bring 3 to 6 inches of powder to the Vail area.

While all snow is welcome, early-season snowpack is lagging behind the 30-year medians.

According to Dec. 14 information from the Eagle River Water & Sanitation District, current snowpack on Vail Mountain is at 64% of the 30-year median.

Snowpack at Copper Mountain, the closest measuring station to the top of Vail Pass, is at 86% of normal. Snowpack on Fremont Pass, the closest measurement station to the headwaters of the Eagle River, is 65% of normal.

The good news is we’re still shy of the halfway point of the “snow year,” which runs from Oct. 1 through the end of May.