Multiple feet of snow forecast for Colorado ski areas

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Winter Park received 18 inches of snow last weekend and reported another eight on Wednesday and Thursday. Another foot is forecast over the next five days with Presidents Day being celebrated on Monday. PROVIDED BY WINTER PARK RESORT

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By John Meyer

jmeyer@denverpost.com

Significant snowfall forecast for the Colorado high country this weekend couldn’t come at a better time for ski resorts that endured less than abundant snow in January.

With Presidents Day coming on Monday, Steamboat can expect to receive 34 inches over the next five days and 10 more resorts are forecast to receive 17-24 inches, according to the OpenSnow forecasting and reporting service. They include Vail, Beaver Creek, Arapahoe Basin, Loveland, Copper Mountain, Winter Park and the Aspen mountains.

“The first part of the storm arrived on Thursday night and it dropped 12-18 inches on parts of the central and southern mountains,” OpenSnow founding meteorologist Joel Gratz wrote in his Friday morning post. “On Friday, the storm will continue with a lot of snow in the southern two thirds of Colorado. Then from Friday night through Saturday evening, additional snow will fall on all mountains. The next storm will then bring snow from Sunday afternoon through Wednesday.”

The Colorado Avalanche Information Center issued a warning Thursday that the backcountry avalanche danger will rise to high level (4 on a scale of 1-5).

All that snow will be welcome to ski resort operators, though. As of Thursday, only two ski areas in the state had above average base depths, Monarch (105%) and Copper Mountain (104%), according to figures curated by OpenSnow. Eldora and Echo Mountain stood at 99%.

Seven other resorts were above 90%, including Arapahoe Basin, Beaver Creek, Breckenridge, Ski Cooper, Granby Ranch, Steamboat and Winter Park. Nine areas were below 80%, including Aspen Highlands, Aspen Mountain, Buttermilk, Powderhorn, Purgatory, Silverton, Snowmass, Sunlight and Wolf Creek. The two resorts hurting most are Purgatory at 50% and Wolf Creek at 47%.

Purgatory went big overnight, though. receiving 15 inches of new snow through this morning.

“The combination of a LOT of moisture and a southwest wind often brings the deepest snow to the southern mountains,’ Gratz wrote, “and Purgatory’s snow stake cam is about as deep as I’ve ever seen for a 12-hour total with 15-18 inches as of Friday at 5 a.m.”

Colorado Avalanche Information Center director Ethan Greene said the backcountry danger this weekend will be higher than it has been at any time over the last month and a half. Historically, February has been the deadliest month for avalanches in Colorado.

“We expect natural avalanches this weekend, and people venturing into the backcountry will be able to trigger slides big enough to bury, injure, or kill them,” Greene said in a news release. “And once the skies clear on Sunday, the chances of an accident will increase due to the nice weather, new snow, and dangerous avalanche conditions.”