“We have made well over half of the snow required to open.” – Alan Henceroth, Arapahoe Basin COO, today

Arapahoe Basin has been teasing us about potentially opening this weekend.

Today, they’re saying that they’ve made half the snow they need to open.

Temperatures don’t look very cold this week, but there is some snow forecast and NOAA has issued a Hazardous Weather Outlook for the Arapahoe Basin area.

.DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT

AN APPROACHING WEATHER SYSTEM WILL CAUSE WINDS TO DEVELOP IN THE
MOUNTAINS THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT. GUSTS IN THE 30 TO 40 MPH
RANGE CAN BE EXPECTED. THERE WILL ALSO BE SOME SCATTERED SHOWERS
IN THE MOUNTAINS OVERNIGHT...WITH LIGHT SNOW POSSIBLE ABOVE 10
THOUSAND FEET. ON THE PLAINS IT WILL BE A SUNNY AND WARM DAY WITH
BREEZY CONDITIONS DEVELOPING NEAR THE WYOMING BORDER IN THE
AFTERNOON.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...TUESDAY THROUGH SUNDAY

TUESDAY WILL BE A LITTLE COOLER WITH A CHANCE OF SHOWERS AND
ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS IN THE MOUNTAINS AND A SLIGHT CHANCE OVER
THE PLAINS. IT WILL BE MUCH COOLER TUESDAY NIGHT INTO WEDNESDAY WITH
A CHANCE OF RAIN AND SNOW SHOWERS IN THE MOUNTAINS...AND A SLIGHT
CHANCE OF RAIN SHOWERS ACROSS THE NORTHEAST PLAINS. BY THE END OF
THE WEEK DRY AND WARMER WEATHER IS EXPECTED TO RETURN TO THE
REGION.

Arapahoe Basin, CO Snowmaking Update:

“Realistically, what can we expect this week? To start, our snowmaking to date has been outstanding. We have made well over half of the snow required to open. The reservoir is re-filling nicely and the streamflows have bumped up a fair bit. We have a little bit of precipitation forecast for mid to late week. The forecasted low temperatures are somewhere around freezing. So, what does this mean for us?  It means the answer to the age old question, “when will you open” is hard to predict. Just a few degrees difference in the forecast will make all the difference. If it is warmer, that is not good. If it is a few degrees colder than forecast, the outlook for good snowmaking improves substantially. We have snowmakers scheduled to work around the clock right now. We will be monitoring temps very closely. Cold, clear nights are ideal. We were poised and capitalized on that last cold weather event. We are ready to do it again.

We do not use snowmax.” – Alan Henceroth, Arapahoe Basin COO, today