Another round of significant snow to fall through at least midweek
Sunday, February 16, 2025
Temperatures are in the low twenties with an occasional flurry this Sunday at noon in Steamboat Springs and the mid-teens near the top of the Steamboat Ski Resort with occasional light snow. Several Pacific waves of energy in moist and favorable winds from the northwest and west will restart the snow machine by this afternoon with significant accumulations expected through Wednesday morning. There may be another storm for Thursday behind a short break later Wednesday.
Snowfall from the just-ended event arrived in time for the Friday morning ski report as expected, with mid-mountain reporting twenty inches through this morning, and twenty-nine inches at the summit. Snowfall during the day Friday ended up being lower than forecast due to moisture in the atmospheric river being spottier than predicted. The three days of accumulation over the Yampa-White-Little Snake River Basin encompassing north-central Colorado contained 1.7” of liquid water that brought the season total to 14”, 95% of the 14.7” 30-year average.
Our next storm currently bringing precipitation to the Pacific Northwest has started some light snow showers, which should become moderate to heavy by sunset as the first piece of energy ejecting from the storm moves overhead. The storm will generally be warm, like the last one, with some cool air arriving behind the storm Tuesday night when snowfall will be tapering off.
Due to the storm traversing between a vortex of frigid air now centered in southern Manitoba and the warm air in the Desert Southwest, expect winds around 25 mph with gusts approaching 50 mph tonight. Another wave ejecting from the parent storm will keep snowfall going during the day, and though winds will decrease a bit Monday morning, they will pick up again through the day peaking at around 30 mph with gusts twice that by noon.
I would expect 6-12” at mid-mountain by the Monday morning report, with snowfall continuing through the day and overnight for another 6-12” by Tuesday morning as what is left of the parent storm moves through Colorado. Winds will thankfully decrease on Tuesday, though remain brisk with gusts as high as 40 mph by the end of the day.
Snowfall should be tapering off after noon on Tuesday, though with cool air arriving Tuesday night thanks to the Manitoba vortex sinking south and stretching westward, there may be enough moisture behind the storm for a round of lower-density snow for Wednesday. While the weather forecast models are generally unexcited about that prospect, keep an eye on the mid-mountain powdercam and the summit powdercam for the possibility of 4-8” of fluffier snowfall by Wednesday morning.
Meanwhile, a piece of energy will eject out of a large storm near the Aleutian Islands early Tuesday and split as it crosses the Pacific Northwest coast on Wednesday. While we should see at least a short break in the snowfall starting Wednesday afternoon, it is unclear if we will see possibly significant snow for Thursday.
Regardless, it appears our active stretch of weather will end for a time as the jet stream lifts northward by Friday. So enjoy another snowy workweek, and check back to my next regularly scheduled weather narrative on Thursday afternoon, unless significant changes to the splitting storm demand an update on Wednesday.
