Another round of heavy snow coming to north-central mountains: 2pm Wed to 5pm Thu

01/01/24 10:15am: I decided to make a little snowfall map for this next wave which is already bringing snow to parts of the mountains now (some light snow moving into Steamboat, BC, Vail areas now). Models show a nice, cold northwest flow event favoring the north-central mountains with heaviest snow in the Park Range (near Steamboat) and for the central mountains from Vail / Summit Co north and east (favoring northern front-range mountains locally).

• Most of the Park Range (near Steamboat ski area and extending towards Flat Tops) is under a Winter Storm Warning from 2pm today to 5pm Thu

• Much of the north-central mountains, I-70 mountain corridor (including Pitkin, Eagle, Summit, Grand, ClearCreek, western Boulder/Larimer counties) is under a Winter Weather Advisory from 2pm today to 5pm tomorrow

I'll let the map speak mostly for its self , but you can see generally 5-12" of new snow coming to the local ski areas from Aspen north with 8-14" in favored north / northwest flow areas, near Park Range (north of Steamboat), Loveland, Jones, Berthoud Passes, Winter Park, IPW, RMNP, Cameron Pass areas (will be favored for highest amounts).

The wind will be a factor again. For today some strong wind over the northern Front Range mountains: 12pm-8pm: westerly wind-gusts of 40-70mph above 10k ft.

For tomorrow some strong wind over much of the north-central mountains, especially from 5am-5pm Thu: northwesterly wind-gusts of 30-60mph. Front Range mountains along/east of the Cont. Divide can expect wind-gusts of 50-80 mph in spots on Thu

For Den/Bou and the front-range lower elevations, again little to no snow due to the expected northwest downslope flow. Maybe a chance for a few snow-showers in the northern foothills 2am-11am Thu (and maybe near the Palmer Divide to Pikes Peak), otherwise just turning windy and cold for Thu. Windiest conditions for Den/Bou will be from 10am-5pm Thu with northwest wind-gusts of 30-60mph.

We will have a break in the action for Friday and most of Saturday (turning warmer again, less wind.

Next storm system arrives in the mountains by Sat night (after 5pm) with on/off snow for the north-central mountains through Mon night (an additional 6-12" likely, so will stake up in spots).

First image is my snowfall map from now through 5pm Thu. Second image shows the current Winter Weather warnings and advisories in place. Images 3 and 4 compare forecast total snowfall from through 5am Fri from latest HRRR and ECMWF models.