Snow Gods Smiling on Colorado

By Bob Berwyn, 12-10-07

	Caption: Arapahoe Basin wears a new coat of powder in some early morning sunshine. Photo by Bob Berwyn

Ullr smiled on Colorado the past few days, dropping copious snow across most of the state’s mountains. The December storm was a bit unusual in that it delivered powder across the board, from the San Juans in the Southwest, up to Steamboat and the Front Range mountains around Winter Park. Often the storm tracks vary just enough to leave one area high and dry while other areas get blasted. A southwest flow, for example, favors the San Juans, the Elk Mountains around Crested Butte and Aspen, and even the Steamboat area. Westerly flows bring generous amounts of snow to Vail and Beaver Creek, while other ski areas squeezed the most moisture out of a northwest flow.

But the wide band of subtropical moisture entrained in the recent blast blanketed the entire state. Wolf Creek reported 55 inches of snow in the 48 hours ending Sunday afternoon and now has a 92-inch base. A pair of large avalanches temporarily closed U.S. Highway 160 across the pass Saturday, the Durango Herald reported.

Monarch scored 42 inches in that same span, while other resorts generally reported about 10 to 18 inches. The Colorado Avalanche Information Center is still rating the avalanche danger across much of the state as high, and the forecast calls for more snow in the next few days, especially in the San Juans. Peter Shelton, one of Colorado’s best ski writers, takes a look at the history of the avalanche center in an interesting story in the Telluride Watch.

Snowslides aside, the big dump led to an epic opening day at Aspen Highlands, the Aspen Times reported.