Snow reports and frigig temps this morning

02/12/25 8:45am: Morning! Well we got some snow and its frigid out there, but with the cold temps (and drier air) the snow totals were on the low end of the range. Still snowing lightly over the northern front-range with the sun poking through (those sundog pics this morning were awesome: from cold ice-crystals refracting the sunlight at just the right angle near sunrise).

Anyway good to see totals at least get close to the forecast range for much of the front-range. Generally 1-4" in many areas with highest amounts near Boulder, Longmont and western Loveland locally.

In the mountains the higher totals were confined to areas west of Vail Pass (as expected) with lesser amounts for the ski areas further east. The big winner was Steamboat with a whopping 15" of new snow, otherwise generally 2-7" for the local ski areas with highest amounts near Vail, BC, Aspen and also Monarch and Powderhorn.

At my house in Westminster I measured 1.3" of snow total with 0.09" of swe. This brings my seasonal totals since Oct 1st to: 32.4" snow with 2.52" swe.

And its really cold out there. Currently 1 degs in Denver, 4 and my house in Westminster, -4 in Monument and -8 up on Rollins Pass (Corona Pass).

Here are some notable 48hr snow totals from CoCoRaHS:

Rocky Ford 0.4 SE: 5.5”
Boulder 7.4 NNW (hwy 36 north): 5.0”
Loveland 2.0 SSE: 4.4”
Black Forest 6.0 WNW: 4.3”
Estes Park 1.8 S: 4.1”
Colorado Springs 8.2 SE (Ft. Carson): 3.8”
Nederland 3.7 ENE: 3.6”
Longmont 1.8 E: 3.5”
Boulder 1.4 W: 3.4”
Pueblo 6.3 SSW: 3.2”
Limon 0.3 W: 3.0”
Burlington 0.58 NE: 3.0”
Golden 1.6 SW: 2.8”
Colorado Springs 6.9 NE: 2.6”
Fort Collins 3.0 WNW: 2.6”
Greeley 1.3 E: 2.3”
Lafayette 0.7 WSW: 1.9”
Castle Rock 0.5 NNW: 1.7”
Arvada 3.5 WNW: 1.7”
Lakewood 1.5 WSW: 1.5”
Thornton 2.1 N: 1.4”
Westminster 1.1 SW (my house): 1.3”
Denver 2.1 ENE: 1.3”

Here are some notable 48hr totals from the ski areas:

Steamboat: 15”
Vail: 7”
Powderhorn: 7”
Monarch: 7”
Beaver Creek: 6”
Aspen Mtn: 6”
Snowmass: 6”
Winter Park: 5”
Silverton: 5”
Telluride: 5”
Crested Butte: 3”
Granby Ranch: 3”
Eldora: 3”
Copper: 2”
Breck: 2”
Keystone: 2”
Wolf Creek: 2”
Loveland: 2”

Models show a bit more on/off light snow across the north-central mountains through 10pm this evening with 1-3" of additional accumulation at some of the ski areas.

For Den/Bou also some light snow showers at times today (and sun at times), with Trace-2" in spots, best chances form Boulder to Ft. Collins.

Next storm system arrives tomorrow night, with heavy snow expected in the mountains from 11pm Thu through 11pm Sat, favoring southern CO this time. Many areas will get 6-16" of additional snow. I'll have more on that soon.

How are conditions in your neck of the woods.

First two images show current snow-stakes from Powderhorn and Steamboat (top). Third image shows low temps (min-T) since midnight, some very cold temps in the foothills of -18 degs in spots. Images 4 and 5 show CoCoRaHS 48hr reports across Ft.Collins/Loveland and Den/Bou.