Back-to-back snowstorms headed for Colorado’s mountains this week

Dual storms are expected to bring several inches of snow to Colorado’s High Country beginning Tuesday morning and into Wednesday afternoon.

Snow totals around 2-6 inches are possible in central mountain valley areas, with greater accumulation likely in high-elevation zones over 10,000 feet, according to National Weather Service meteorologist Bruno Rodriguez.

Snow is forecast to begin falling Tuesday morning with intermittent showers throughout the day. A second wave of precipitation will hit Wednesday morning with light, isolated showers until the afternoon. 

“Most of the roads will probably stay fine, especially in lower elevations,” Rodriguez said, “but there could be some slick parts near passes” including Vail Pass and around the Eisenhower-Johnson Memorial Tunnels. 

This week’s storm is not expected to be as strong as the system that hit two weekends ago, which brought nearly 2 feet of powder to some mountain areas in the state’s southwest corner. 

According to estimates from OpenSnow.com, Summit and Vail-area ski resorts could net between 3 and 9 inches of snowfall in the next five days, with more snow expected west of Vail Pass. Further south, the Aspen mountains could see anywhere between 4 and 14 inches while to the north, Steamboat Ski Resort could see 8 inches. 

OpenSnow founding meteorologist Joel Gratz wrote in a Monday, Oct. 28 blog post that winds from the southwest will generally favor deeper snow totals over the southern and central mountains.

“After the storm passes across Colorado, temperatures will cool and the wind direction will be from the west and west-northwest,” Gratz wrote, adding this should bring additional snowfall favoring the northern and central mountains as well as the northern side of the southern mountains.

“Potentially the better news is that temperatures will be cold enough for at least a few days of around-the-clock snowmaking,” Gratz wrote. “Peering far ahead, additional storms are possible early next week.”

So far only one ski area, Wolf Creek, has opened for the 2024-25 season, but other openings are expected to be imminent. Arapahoe Basin Ski Area, typically among the first to start spinning its lifts, has maintained it will open as soon as possible. It did so last year on Oct. 29.

The remainder of the week is likely to be dry after Wednesday, though some precipitation is possible on Sunday. The next best chance for snow will likely be the beginning to middle of next week.

“With snow in the forecast and solid snowmaking conditions on the way, I guess that we’ll see a few resorts start to spin lifts during the first few days of November,” Gratz wrote.

The end of October and beginning of November is forecast to have an elevated chance of seeing above-normal temperatures in Colorado’s mountain region, according to an eight- to 14-day outlook from the Climate Prediction Center. 

At the same time, the region has a slight chance of seeing above-normal precipitation. 

Looking further ahead, the months of November, December and January could see above-normal temperatures and below-normal precipitation, according to the prediction center, though long-term forecasts are far less certain and subject to change. 

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