Weather
Colorado skiing stays spring-like and windy through Monday, then a better round of mountain snow arrives late Monday night through Tuesday night before the pattern turns more uncertain again for Friday and Saturday. Confidence is highest from late Monday night through Tuesday night, when timing, falling snow levels, and the colder finish line up best; after that, another snow chance remains on the table late week, but the spread grows quickly on placement and totals.
Sunday and Monday are more about wind than snow. Guidance is tightly clustered on a warm southwest-flow pattern with only isolated alpine showers, so most areas keep a classic spring cycle of firmer mornings and softer afternoons. The bigger ski impact is exposure on ridgelines and upper mountain lifts, where gusts commonly reach 30-40 mph and locally higher terrain can top that, especially Sunday afternoon and again Monday. Snowfall signals stay weak and inconsistent through Monday afternoon, so this is not a meaningful refresh yet.
The best-defined part of the forecast runs from late Monday night through Tuesday night, when guidance converges on a cold front and widespread light to moderate mountain snow. Snow spreads onto the Divide Monday night, fills in on Tuesday, and then tapers from west to east Tuesday night into early Wednesday. Snow levels generally fall from around 7,500-8,500 feet early to near 6,000-7,000 feet by the end, so accumulation becomes less elevation-sensitive as the storm matures. Ratios mostly start around 8-12, which points to denser to fair snow at first, then improve into the low to mid teens Tuesday night. For the open I-70 resorts, this still looks like a useful 3-6 inches, while Wolf Creek stands out on the higher end even though it is already closed.
Wednesday and most of Thursday look quieter, then Friday into Saturday brings another colder storm signal with clearly lower confidence. Guidance comes back together on a short midweek break, then spreads out on the late-week trough’s track, wind, and duration. The common ground still favors the northern and central mountains, including several open resorts, for a general 6-10 inches from Friday into Saturday, but there is still enough spread that a smaller outcome remains plausible and any upside would depend on the colder, wetter camp winning out. Snow levels look low enough for all-mountain snow during that period, and any accumulation should be drier than Tuesday’s snow. Beyond Saturday, the broader pattern still looks only loosely unsettled rather than locked into a prolonged storm cycle.
Resort Forecast Totals (Mon Apr 13 – Wed Apr 15)
- Wolf Creek – 9-13 in
- Snowmass – 4-6 in
- Arapahoe Basin – 4-6 in
- Loveland – 4-6 in
- Telluride – 4-6 in
- Beaver Creek – 4-5 in
- Winter Park – 3-5 in
- Crested Butte – 3-5 in
- Vail – 3-5 in
- Copper Mountain – 3-4 in
- Breckenridge – 2-4 in
- Monarch – 2-3 in
- Steamboat – 2-3 in
