Warmer, dry weather moving in Saturday; quick hitting storm for the northern mountains Sunday night

Snow showers continued to fall in the northern mountains on Friday under a northwesterly flow, with many areas doing quite well.  Loveland had a surprise powder day today with 7" reported at 6 am, and another 7" during the day, making for 14" in 24 hours.  I heard that Vail and Beaver Creek skied very well today also.  A-Basin and Winter Park both reported half a foot on their morning snow report, and probably picked up more today.  This system ended up favoring the Front Range mountains from Loveland to Berthoud Pass to the Southern Indian Peaks, along with the Vail area.  The Colorado Avalanche Center remarked on their Facebook page today that March 2013 has officially seen more snow than March 2012, and sadly this is actually true for many places, such as Loveland, who saw more snow today, on March 1, than the entire month of March 2012.  Hopefully March 2013 will behave more like a typical Colorado March, unlike last year's freakishly dry March.

Skies will clear out overnight Friday into Saturday as a ridge of high pressure moves into Colorado, bringing much warmer weather.  High temperatures in Denver should reach 50 tomorrow, and even the ski areas will be noticeably warmer, with high temperatures at ski area bases reaching the mid to upper 30's.  On Sunday, downsloping winds off of the mountains (winds blowing directly downhill off of a mountain range warm the air) ahead of the next system will allow temperatures to reach 60 degrees in Denver, which will melt just about all of the snow remaining.

On Sunday afternoon into Sunday evening, the next storm system will brush northern Colorado.  This won't be a prolonged snow event, but the models are now indicating quite a bit of moisture and energy with the storm, so a period of heavy snow showers are possible for areas favored in northwest flow.  Steamboat, the Front Range, and Vail/Summit County could certainly pick up some decent snow totals, depending on where the heaviest bands set up.  There could be some strong winds in the mountains on Sunday as the system approaches as well.  In Denver, winds will not be favorable for precipitation, but temperatures will cool off from Sunday's warm temperatures, with high temperatures on Monday only reaching the low to mid 40's along with chilly winds.

On Tuesday, high pressure moves back into Colorado, bringing sunny skies and warmer, spring-like temperatures (temperatures could top 60 in Denver again by Wednesday).  However, by Thursday-Friday, a potentially significant storm system could affect Colorado.  This is still a week away, so it's way too early to speculate on who may get hit and with how much snow (all areas are fair game for now, including Denver), but it will be something to keep an eye on in the coming days.