Possible first snow for Denver, Colorado Springs during last few days of October

Snowmaking is under way at more ski areas, including in Grand County, Colorado at Winter Park Resort, as night time temperatures have provided, and will continue to provide, good conditions after sunset for making man-made snow.

Three storms over the next 10 days are forecast to deliver respectable snow accumulations to all three Colorado mountain zones, helping to augment ski area bases ahead of nearing opening dates for the usual ski area suspects Arapahoe Basin, Loveland and Keystone, and weather dependent Wolf Creek.

A prolonged storm system is trending toward delivering heavy snow to Colorado’s mountains a few days before Halloween, and potentially the first snow of winter 2025-26 to areas around metro Denver, Colorado Springs and the I-25 corridor of southern Colorado.

Recap:

Winter Park Resort in Grand County fired up its snowmaking guns overnight Friday, blowing snow onto areas on the Winter Park side of the resort.

“Temperatures dropped in the last 24 hours, creating ideal conditions and we couldn’t be more excited,” the resort said in a Friday email. “We will start rolling chair lifts for skiers and riders as soon as conditions are ready. Stay tuned to our website for an exact date.”

Weather on Friday and Saturday was mild around the state’s ski areas, with sunny and breezy conditions, especially on Saturday.

Wind speeds recorded at the Eagle Wind remote weather station at Winter Park were recorded as high as 50 mph on Saturday with constant wind speeds in the low 30s.

Forecast:

Sunday’s forecast calls for similar conditions with breezes from between 13 to 22 mph and gusts to 34 mph.

According to an ECMWF forecast from Saturday night, however, a pseudo-disorganized short-wave low pressure system brushing northern Colorado on Sunday night is also forecast, bringing the potential for 1-2 inches of snow to the Front Range and Park Range mountains by Monday morning.

The central and southern mountains should not receive any snow from this system except just south on Interstate 70 near Vail.

Monday through Wednesday’s forecast calls for quiet conditions around the state’s high country, however, night-time temperatures should approach freezing each night, particularly above 9,000 feet, meaning better-than-average conditions for snowmaking should play out.

Wednesday night, snow showers are forecast to develop from west to east and across all three mountain zones, and continue until Friday morning.

A low pressure system pushing eastward across southern California, then into southern Utah and western Colorado, is forecast to bring moderate snow accumulations to the west-central and northern mountains, and San Juan Mountains in the southern mountains.

Snowfall accumulations for the southern mountains is from between 2-4 inches, in the central mountains between 4-10 inches with the highest totals on the Grand Mesa and in the Elk and West Elk Mountains, and in the northern mountain between 1-3 inches.

Long-term forecast:

Another storm is right behind the late-week system, starting Saturday afternoon in the northern mountains, and is forecast to be a larger snow event for the mountains and even potentially for lower elevations along the Front Range foothills and Interstate-25 corridor.

According to ECMWF modeling, from Saturday to Tuesday, Oct. 28 evening, snow showers will produce moderate to heavy snowfall for Colorado’s high country, with the potential for snow as low as 5,500 feet in the Front Range foothills, along the Palmer Divide and south to the New Mexico state line.

An area of low pressure pushing eastward across northern California and the Great Basin is forecast to bring snow starting Saturday, with heavier snow showers arriving Monday, Oct. 27.

Both the ECMWF and GS models are forecasting snow for Colorado during this time frame, with the largest accumulation totals in the northern mountains, West Elks of the central mountains and western San Juan Mountains in the southern mountains.

Between 8-14 inches of snow is possible from this system as currently forecast, bringing the approximate 10-day total to between 18-24 inches ahead of Halloween.

The larger storm ahead of Halloween is still a week out and more model runs will need to occur to dial in more accurate details about the storm, however, the likelihood of a good snow event is trending in the right direction after model runs on Friday and Saturday all showed a storm over Colorado during the forecast time frame.