Midweek snowfall expected to cool Colorado mountains amid prolonged dry spell

Light snowfall is expected to fall across the Colorado High Country on Tuesday, briefly breaking a several-day dry spell heading into Christmas week.

Snow is expected to begin falling in the afternoon, providing between 1 and 3 inches of accumulation along the Interstate 70 corridor “with a few lucky spots possibly topping out at 3 to 5 inches,” wrote Sam Collentine, OpenSnow meteorologist, in a blog post Monday..

For skiers and snowboarders, “this could allow for smooth turns for the last chair on Tuesday and potentially for the first chair on Wednesday,” Collentine wrote. “Groomers should also be nice and crisp on Wednesday morning, so keep your hours open.”

Conditions will dry out for the remainder of the week, with the next best chance of snow falling on Monday, December 23. Stronger storms could be possible around Christmas Day and in the last days of December, according to Collentine.

The state’s snowpack, which increased in November amid intense winter storms, has since fallen below normal. Snowpack is tracked by looking at snow-water equivalent, a measurement that shows how much liquid water is retained in the state’s snowfields.

As of Monday, snowpack levels statewide were 96% of the 30-year median, according to data from the Natural Resources Conservation Service.