YOUR AD HERE »

Flakes return

Steve Benson

Finally, it’s snowing again.It was supposed to dump all night Saturday and through Sunday, which is why I wasn’t shocked to wake up and find dry skies and no significant new snow. The past half-dozen forecasted storms have either dried up or split when they hit the Colorado state line, so this was no surprise.Snowmass and Highlands were each reporting about an inch of fresh on Sunday morning, far from the 3-6 forecasted.But according to National Weather Service meteorologist Paul Frisbie, this system could deliver a decent, and much needed, coating on the local hills.”Accumulations in the town of Aspen could be about 5 inches, and the mountains could get anywhere between 6-12 inches,” Frisbie said.The Grand Mesa could get a foot and a half, he added.This same storm pummeled areas of the Sierra Nevada with about 2 feet, and resorts in Utah’s Wasatch Range had picked up more than a foot by Sunday afternoon.Frisbie said accumulations would be less in the Aspen area due to the storm’s primary southwest flow, which doesn’t favor the Elk Mountains due to natural terrain barriers.But if this storm fails to deliver, another one is right on its heels. Frisbie said a larger and more intense system could arrive midweek and hang around a couple of days.”This has the potential to be bigger,” he said. “It’s coming basically due west, so [western Colorado] would take a bigger brunt of it.”Temperatures are also expected to be cooler, with highs hanging in the 20s and lows in the teens in the later part of the week.Today’s report: Aspen Highlands is reporting seven new inches of snow in the last 24 hours, while Snowmass and Aspen Mountain picked up four. Buttermilk has three.

News


See more