As predicted, Christmas should bring a bit of fresh powder to parts of Colorado, though heavy widespread snow that was initially in the forecast won’t quite come to fruition. While the Front Range and I-25 corridor should be mostly missed, various parts of the state’s mountainous terrain could get double-digit totals. It’s also worth noting that while this first wave of snow is mostly limited to Thursday, a second round of snow (not depicted on the mapping below) is expected to hit on Saturday.

Per National Weather Service mapping, most mountains get snow in the range of one to six inches through Saturday morning in the most likely scenario, with the exception of a few scattered peaks that could see totals between six and 18 inches. Meanwhile, the high-end scenario (10% chance) shows that these deeper totals could be a bit more widespread, though still limited to a few select areas. In this high-end scenario, the chance of closer to 18 inches of snow is higher on select peaks, with very limited portions of southwest Colorado having a shot at slightly more that.

See both of these scenarios depicted on the maps below, starting with the more likely scenario and then moving on to the ‘high-end’ scenario:

According to OpenSnow, Wolf Creek Ski Area should get the most fresh snow over the next five days – about 10 inches. Find their full report here.

Colorado’s snowpack is currently at about 54 percent of the norm for the date, which happens to be the lowest its been on December 24 since at least 1987 (when modern records started).

Find additional forecasting information on the National Weather Service website.

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