Published Friday at 10:50 am

What a wonderful storm cycle this week. Thanks for all of the reports this morning. There are a lot of happy people out there! North Valley locations around Hermosa and Falls Creek finally got in on the action last night with several reports of 5 to 7 inches. All of the resorts did very well over the last few days and the snow continues to fall as I write this (9:30 am).

The lower elevations received about what I expected. Durango was on the higher side of my forecast. Areas east of Durango did better overall than areas west of Durango (south of Hermosa). Along the 240 corridor, the higher elevations between 7,800′ and 8,400′ feet were reporting 8 to 12 inches this morning!

So now what? Good question. The cold front is still stretched across Utah according to all of the surface maps.  Although some slightly drier air has worked into the lower levels in our area, the radar and water vapor are showing snow accompanying the front.

Here is the surface map showing the front stretched across Utah and the snow (in blue) along the front.

Here is the water vapor loop showing the wetter atmosphere along the front (I circled the moisture in red)

A few scenarios are possible:

1) Dry air could overtake that moisture before the front goes through our area

2) The front could push that moisture over our area later today, leading to mixed precipitation in the lower elevations with more snow in the other areas

3) The front comes through very quickly with snow squalls and then northwest flow kicks in on the backside of the front

The models don’t handle these situations well. They are mixed with most showing snow continuing in the higher elevations throughout the day with light additional accumulations.

One thing we were reminded of this week is to expect the unexpected when it comes to spring storms.

I will be watching the situation but if snow starts to pick up in areas other than the resorts let me know. For today, I expect snow to continue on and off at Purgatory. Wolf Creek looks like it is still moderately snowing. Telluride will eventually transition to Northwest flow and the snow should pick up later today.

I will do a Saturday Snowpack report tomorrow. Thanks for following and supporting the site!

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