A look at the active weather pattern for this first week of April: three storms on tap

03/31/25 8:40am: March is going out like a lion this year! We have a very active weather pattern for this first week of April into the weekend with three storms systems on tap. Deep pacific moisture combined with some stronger short-waves aloft will lead to some heavy snow in the mountains and some rain/snow for Den/Bou and the front-range. The snow will really pile up in spots in the mountains by the Fri into Sat.

Three storm systems on tap:

• First storm will impact the state from 9pm Mon through 12pm Wed with westerly flow favoring the north-central mountains

• Second storm system will impact the state from about 6am Thu through 6am Fri: southern track low favoring southern CO and the southern front-range

• Third storm system from 3pm Fri through 11pm Sat: large southern trough that will again favor the front-range and will pull in some colder air from the north (maybe best chances for snow for Den/Bou)

Here are some details focusing on the first two storms:

For the north-central mountains snow showers move in after 12pm today. Then more consistent round of moderate to heavy snow from 9pm Mon through 12pm Wed (heaviest Tue morning through afternoon): generally 6-12” of new snow for the ski areas with up to 15” in spots (favoring areas west of Vail Pass: Steamboat to Vail to Aspen).

More snow for the north-central and south-central mountains from about 12pm Thu through 6am Fri: additional 2-6” for the ski areas.

For Den/Bou and the front-range another round of rain/snow showers primarily from 2pm Tue through 6am Wed. Rain initially Tue afternoon, then maybe a rain/snow mix or all snow late Tue night into Wed am. Best chances for some accumulating snow will be in the foothills west of Den/Bou and on the Palmer Divide (those areas may get 1-3” in spots). For the Denver and the urban corridor likely not much snow accum Trace-1” in spots by Wed am.

Then for the front-range another chance for rain/snow for the front-range from 12pm Thu through 6am Fri (again best chances for snow in foothills and Palmer Divide and across parts of southern front-range). Then likely the best chances for snow for Den/Bou will come Fri night into Sat with the last storm system but uncertainty is high. Looks cold by next Sat.

Southern CO including the San Juans will likely get snow throughout the events but heaviest snow will be from early Thu into Fri and again Fri night to Sun...could really pile up in spots down there as well 8-16"+ total by Sat/Sun for southern CO.

I'll be putting together a snowfall map tonight for the first wave through Wed afternoon.

First image shows the evolution of the pattern via 500mb vorticty / wind from now through Sun from latest GFS...you can see its a messy and complex flow pattern (but with several storms over CO). Second image is current regional IR-satellite image showing the deep Pacific moisture moving in from the west now (like and atmospheric river). Image 3 and 4 compare forecast total snowfall from now through 6am Fri from latest ECMWF and GFS, take amounts with big grain of salt but you get the idea: heavy snow for much of the mountains this week!