72hr Snow Reports and look at the next storm system: Tue/Wed

03/16/25 10am: Morning, happy Sunday. Having a relaxing morning at home, but I put together some 72hr snow-totals for you, so we can compare to my forecast from Thu.... Happy the storm panned out for the most part with a few surprises in spots.

First image below shows 72hr totals from the ski areas. Second image shows the view of the Vail snow-stake early this morning (just won't stop snowing there). Third image shows a map of 72hr observed snowfall from NOHRSC (interpolated so can be off in spots, but gives idea of where heaviest snow fell).

Big winner was Wolf Creek with a whopping 30" and that exceeded the forecast by quite a bit (good to see that finally). Then second highest totals were in west-central CO with 20" at Snowmass, 16" at Vail and Sunlight with 15" at Powderhorn (also 30"+ in the VP backcountry). Otherwise the rest of the local ski areas picked up generally 5-12" of new snow at that was basically my forecast range (areas near Eldora were on the low end of the range with only 2" there).

Here are some notable 48hr town reports from CoCoRaHS:

Vail 0.9 WNW: 11.1"
Cedaredge 10.5 NNW (Grand Mesa): 11.0"
Glenwood Springs 7.2 S: 7.1"
Ouray .23 NNW: 5.7"
Steamboat Springs 1.1 E: 3.2"
Woodland Park 2.0 N: 2.5"
Black Forest 3.8 W: 2.3"
Fort Garland 13.3 E (La Veta Pass): 2.1"
Silverthorne 2.1 WSW: 1.7"
Edwards 1.3 WNW: 1.3"
Evergreen 6.5 WSW: 0.8"
Durango 0.8 SSW: 0.3"

Anyway, we have a break in the weather today and it will be getting much warmer (especially for Den/Bou) with highs in the 60s today and then 70s tomorrow, but will be windy today.

Next storm system will bring more heavy snow to the mountains Tue into Wed and some rain/snow showers and wind to the front-range (Den/Bou) on Tue night into early Wed. Fourth image shows forecast precip-type/rate and MSLP at 12pm Tue from latest GFS.

For the north-central mountains including the I-70 mountain corridor the next round of moderate / heavy snow is expected from 12pm Tue through 6pm Wed, with heaviest snow Tue night. Models show a good 6-12" at the ski areas, favoring areas west of Vail Pass again with up to 15" in a few favored spots. Also will be windy in the mountains on Tue afternoon into Wed am (westerly wing-gusts of 30-50mph).

For Den/Bou, foothills and the front-range much higher uncertainty in the forecast and will all depend on the upper-level low track: GFS shows it north with almost no precip (too much downslope). ECMWF on the other-hand shows the low tracking south and shows a nice shot of snow for the foothills and Palmer Divide (2-5") and some snow for Den/Bou: Trace-2", so we shall see (best chances late Tue night).

Later today or tomorrow I'll have a snowfall forecast map for the next storm system.