One of two storm cells is spinning off the coast of California, producing ample precipitation on coastal cities like San Francisco and San Jose Wednesday morning.

This storm is the southern storm forecast to make its way into Colorado sometime Saturday, along with a second storm coming down from Montana.

Small amounts of moisture from the first storm might make its way deep enough inland Wednesday to form snow for the southern mountains around Telluride, Silverton and Purgatory by Thursday morning.

Snow accumulations from 1-3 inches is possible from Hesperus (still closed) to Wolf Creek for first chair Thursday, but don’t expect this wave to lay down much snow.

Resort snow around the rest of the state is still very hard and firm, and sticking to groomers for the rest of the week will ensure better skiing and riding experiences until more snow falls.

Saturday’s storm should bring ample snow to the southern mountains first, however some forecast models have the storm missing the southern mountains.

By Sunday, the two storms will have merged and strengthened to the east of Colorado, allowing for snow accumulations in the northern and central mountains.

By first chair Christmas Day snow accumulations forecast from the ECMWF model for the southern mountains range between 8-16 inches, central mountains 4-8 inches, and northern mountains 4-12 inches.

More details will arise as he storms continue flowing inland at the end of the week, but early indicators suggest a powder day is coming Sunday for the southern mountains and Monday for the central and northern mountains.

Today’s 24 hour snow total from Colorado resorts:

Arapahoe Basin – 0″

Aspen Mountain – 0″

Aspen Highlands – 0″

Beaver Creek – 0″

Breckenridge – 0″

Buttermilk – 0″

Cooper – 0″

Copper Mountain – 0″

Crested Butte – 0″

Echo Mountain – 0″

Eldora Mountain – 0″

Granby Ranch – 0″

Hesperus – 0″, Opens mid-Dec.

Howelsen Hill – 0″

Kendall Mountain – 0″, open weekends

Keystone – 0″

Loveland – 0″

Monarch – 0″

Powderhorn – 0″

Purgatory – 0″

Silverton – 0″, Heli-only, guided Dec. 28

Snowmass – 0″

Steamboat – 0″

Sunlight – 0″

Telluride – 0″

Vail – 0″

Winter Park – 0″

Wolf Creek – 0″