Weather
This Colorado snow forecast favors a colder Sunday night through Monday storm, with the most snow on the northern and central mountains and only limited lift-served skiing still available. Arapahoe Basin is the only lift-served exception, with limited terrain for closing weekend through Sunday, while the other major Colorado resorts in this forecast area are closed for winter lift operations. Confidence is best from Saturday afternoon, May 16, through Wednesday evening, May 20, when the individual models are most aligned; within that period, totals favor 7-11 inches at Winter Park, 4-6 inches around Arapahoe Basin and Loveland, and lighter 1-5 inches totals elsewhere.
Saturday afternoon and Sunday stay unsettled but mostly marginal for accumulating snow before colder air arrives. Scattered showers and thunderstorms favor brief graupel or wet snow on the highest peaks, with snow levels generally above 9,500-11,500 feet during the warmer part of the weekend. The individual models are converging on increasing Sunday night precipitation and a Monday temperature drop, while wind guidance also lines up on a gusty southwest-to-west period ahead of the trough, strongest across the southern and central mountains where gusts could reach 40-50 mph. For Arapahoe Basin’s final lift-served day Sunday, expect spring weather that can change quickly with showers, gusts, and high snow levels before the better accumulating snow arrives after operations end.
Sunday night through Monday is the main storm period, and the model spread is small enough to use specific snowfall totals through Wednesday evening. Snow levels fall from roughly 10,000-11,000 feet early to around 6,500-8,500 feet by Monday, favoring all-snow at upper-mountain elevations and wet, dense snow at lower elevations when precipitation is falling. Snow quality looks dense to fair at first, with SLRs mostly 8:1-12:1, then briefly improving toward 12:1-15:1 in colder Monday night showers. The best high-terrain totals stack up along and north of I-70 and near the Front Range, with lighter but still noticeable accumulations for the San Juans and central mountains.
Tuesday and Wednesday bring lingering snow showers, then confidence drops as the pattern warms and becomes less organized late in the week. The individual models diverge after Monday on how long the northwest-flow snow showers hold on, but the common theme keeps the best odds near Winter Park, Loveland, Arapahoe Basin, and the Divide, with lighter, more intermittent snow elsewhere. By Thursday and Friday, temperatures moderate and any showers look spotty, with snow levels often near or above 9,500 feet. The longer May 22-26 outlook is near normal for Colorado, with warmer odds increasing into May 24-30, so any late-period snow signal looks minor and highly elevation-dependent rather than a clean powder setup.
Colorado Snow Forecast Resort Totals (Sat May 16 – Wed May 20)
- Winter Park – 7-11 in
- Arapahoe Basin – 4-6 in
- Loveland – 4-6 in
- Steamboat – 3-5 in
- Telluride – 2-3 in
- Copper Mountain – 2-3 in
- Wolf Creek – 2-3 in
- Breckenridge – 2-3 in
- Vail – 2-3 in
- Beaver Creek – 2-3 in
- Snowmass – 2 in
- Monarch – 1-2 in
- Crested Butte – 1-2 in
