Summit County Citizens Voice

The NOAA weather map shows a chance for heavy snow far south into Nevada and Arizona.

Just a chance of some scattered snow showers the next few days …

By Bob Berwyn

SUMMIT COUNTY — The central and southern mountains picked up a few more inches of snow in the past 24 hours, with 6 inches of fresh reported at Telluride, 4 at Ski Copper and Purgatory and 3 inches at Monarch. Quiet weather returned to the north-central mountains, although winds are picking up at the highest elevations, with a snow plume visible Tuesday morning at the summit of Peak One, above Frisco.

The next storm tracking in from the Pacific will cross the Four Corners area but generally track along the U.S.-New Mexico border, too far south for precipitation in the local zone, with clear to partly cloudy skies and only a chance of showers the next few days. Temperatures will range from single-digit lows to highs in the teens and low 20s.

A Great Basin ridge of high pressure will dominate the weather pattern through Thursday, but a few shortwave low pressure troughs will ride over the ridge and dive into the central Rockies during the period under a northwest flow, bringing a chance for showers on northwest-facing slopes in the northern and central mountains of Colorado and Utah, according to the National Weather Service forecast from Grand Junction.

The strongest disturbance in the series is forecast to move through the area Friday night and Saturday, and may strengthen with northerly winds bringing cooler temperatures and a continued chance of some snow through Sunday.

Backcountry observers are still reported a sketchy snowpack to the Colorado Avalanche Information Center, as testing reveals weak mid-pack layers and depth hoar near the ground. As a result, the overall avalanche hazard is still rated as considerable on north to east-facing slopes near treeline.

Check the backcountry avalanche conditions and weather forecasts online with the CAIC. The local hotline is at (970) 668-0600.

Filed under: avalanches, snow, Snow and weather, Summit County Colorado Tagged: | Summit County Colorado, Summit County snow, Summit County snow and weather