12/25/21 Saturday 7 am

If you have been sending me snow reports for your area, don’t throw them away. If you remember, my preliminary forecast from Thursday afternoon was for snow totals through Sunday night. So far Wolf Creek has had 33 inches, Purgatory is at 19 inches, Silverton has had 15 inches. Telluride didn’t get the bump I expected but they should be able to get a few more inches tomorrow to add to the 7 inches so far.

Mid-elevation areas above 7,800 feet did very well with numerous reports of 20+inches. Between 7,300 and 7,500 feet, 9-12 inches was very common. There several were reports of over 6 inches at 7,100 feet.

If you are reading this and are currently out of the forecast area, here is a look at the fresh snow in some of our local towns in Southwest Colorado this morning via webcams.

Durango

Telluride

Ouray

Pagosa Springs

Here is the latest Winter Storm Watch. As written it was confusing because these areas remain under a Winter Storm Warning until 11 am this morning. I cleaned it up a bit to include only the Winter Storm Watch and to edit out areas outside of our forecast area.

Technically, this watch goes into effect at 2 am Sunday morning and ends Monday at 5 am. In reality, snow will continue in higher elevation areas at varying intensities between now and when the Watch goes into effect. Hopefully, my decision to forecast totals through Sunday night makes a little more sense to some of you now.

INCLUDING THE CITIES OF SILVERTON, RICO, AND HESPERUS
259 AM MST SAT DEC 25 2021 

…WINTER STORM WATCH IN EFFECT FROM LATE TONIGHT THROUGH LATE SUNDAY NIGHT ABOVE 8500 FEET…

HEAVY SNOW IS POSSIBLE. TOTAL SNOW ACCUMULATIONS OF 6 TO 12 INCHES POSSIBLE. WINDS COULD GUST AS HIGH AS 60 MPH.

* WHERE… SOUTHWEST SAN JUAN MOUNTAINS.

* WHEN FROM LATE TONIGHT THROUGH LATE SUNDAY NIGHT.

* IMPACTS…TRAVEL COULD BE VERY DIFFICULT. AREAS OF BLOWING SNOW COULD SIGNIFICANTLY REDUCE VISIBILITY, ESPECIALLY ON RIDGE TOPS.

Pueblo NWS coordinates Wolf Creek. Their Winter Storm Watch was even more difficult to read. So just know that they are calling for 10-20 inches from late tonight through Monday morning. This does not include anything that falls before 2 am Sunday.

I will do a very brief model update around noon to try to pin down how much more snow is going to fall by Monday morning. Thanks for following and supporting the site!

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