Colorado ski resorts were walloped with massive dumps of snow over the weekend, just in time for Presidents Day.
Vail led the way with 40 inches over the past five days, with Crested Butte not far behind at 37. Five more areas reported 30 inches or more, including Silverton with 35, Purgatory and Aspen Highlands 33, Steamboat 31 and Copper Mountain 30, reporting and forecasting service.
Beaver Creek, Breckenridge, Loveland and Telluride also received 2 feet or more, and another eight resorts checked in with 18 to 23 inches.
“Sunday morning offered powder at many mountains across Colorado, due to the snow that fell on Saturday afternoon and Saturday evening,” OpenSnow founding meteorologist . “It was ‘soft-on-soft’ conditions with new, fluffy-ish snow on top of a very soft base. It doesn’t get much better! Then on Sunday afternoon, the next storm arrived and quickly dropped 1-5 inches of snow across the northern and central mountains through early evening, and the snow continued to fall on Sunday night across the northern mountains.”
It’s not over yet. Gratz predicts 3-8 more inches during the day on Monday and 3 to 6 additional inches overnight.
Last Thursday, only two Colorado ski areas had above-average base depths. As of Monday morning, that figure rose to 11, with Copper Mountain at 12% above normal, Monarch 10% above and Beaver Creek 9% above.
The Colorado Avalanche Information Center says in the northern mountains, while conditions are deemed “dangerous” in the central mountains and the San Juans.
