Snowfall map for current storm system through Sat morning

03/05/25 8:50pm: Good evening. Wow, its been a busy stretch of weather forecasting but since we have another winter-storm moving in now, thought I would make you a snowfall map for expected totals from now through 5am Sat. As stated yesterday, uncertainty is high with this complex storm system. Snow will come in multiple waves. I'll keep it short tonight and let the map mostly speak for itself.

Snow is already moving into western CO and parts of the north-central mountains now, you can see this on the state composite radar below (image2).

For the north-central mountains on/off snow from now through 5am Sat. The southwest flow aloft isn't great for heavy accumulation, but it will slowly add up, generally 5-12" of new snow for the ski areas, favoring areas locally along/east of the Cont. Divide / parts of the Front Range mountains. Coldest air comes Thu night into Fri am.

For Den/Bou and the front-range also not a great setup as models show a disorganized trough with no real focused upslope flow. But two chances for some snow / snow showers. First chance from 8pm Thu to 5am Fri (first cold front). Then models show a re-enforcing shot of cold-air moving down the front-range on Fri, with some snow / showers from 2pm Fri 2am Sat (that will be the window that has best chance for snow accum). But likely not that much: T-4" for Den/Bou/Ft.Collins areas and 2-7" for the foothills, favoring Boulder and Larimer counties this time.

With the strong southwest flow on the front-side of the trough and then the trailing upper-level low tracking south, southwest CO: San Juans to the Elks will be favored for the heaviest snowfall: 10-20" for the ski areas down there with highest amounts in western San Juans (Silverton, etc).

In terms of wind: turning windy over much of the mountains tomorrow with southwest wind-gusts of 30-50 mph, strongest south of I-70.

It will be very windy over southwest CO (including San Juans, SLV and Sangres) and also southeast CO (La Veta Pass to Trinidad) from 12pm Thu through 12pm Fri: southwest wind-gusts of 40-80mph.

That is all for now as I'm still getting ready to head to the mountains tomorrow.

Image 3 shows forecast total snowfall just over the next 48hrs (5pm tonight to 5pm Fri) from latest HRRR, doesn't have the last part of the event for southeast CO. Fourth image shows forecast total snowfall through 11am Sat from latest ECMWF, take amounts with grain of salt. I'll attach the watches and warnings in the comments