Parts of Colorado got some big snow last week, with the National Weather Service reporting that Colorado Springs got up to 13 inches and that Ouray got 18. That said, the Central Mountains and northern Front Range peaks got much less, thus the storms overall impact on statewide snowpack was minimal. Looking ahead, it’s not good news, with Colorado once again approaching record lows in terms of statewide snowpack for the date and almost no chance of precipitation on the way.

As of January 12, statewide snowpack is at 63 percent of what’s typical on January 12. This is higher than just one other season since records started in 1987 – and it’s not higher by much.

The current snow water equivalent for the state is 4.8 inches – this ties that of 2000 and is just 0.1 inches above the record of 4.7 inches for January 12, set in 2018. While Colorado might be sitting just above the all-time-low right now, that won’t be the case for long – the all-time low snowpack for January 13 is 4.9 inches, thus when the clock strikes midnight, a new record will be set. After all, no significant snow is expected in Colorado for days to come.

The National Weather Service snowfall forecast shows that the ‘high-end’ 10% chance scenario could bring a whopping 0.1 to 1 inches of snow to part of northern Colorado through January 15 – and that’s it. Longer-term outlooks show no chance of significant precipitation in Colorado through at least January 19, with a ‘risk of heavy snow’ map showing no ‘risk of heavy snow’ in Colorado through the 26th. Adding salt to the wound, the OpenSnow five-day resort-specific forecast is a long list of zeros when it comes to the snowfall prediction, though Joel Gratz is calling for a chance of meaningful show from January 22 to January 24 – but not before then.

As far as hopeful skiers and snowboarders should be concerned, it’s bad news bears. Don’t expect a true powder day anytime soon.

STAY INFORMED: Get free Colorado news with our daily newsletter (Click here)