STEAMBOAT SPRINGS — A highly-anticipated storm taking aim at Colorado could drop more than 12 inches of new snow at the Steamboat Ski Area.

The storm has been moving slower than expected, and is expected to arrive as early as Saturday morning in the Steamboat Springs area, with accumulating snow in the afternoon.

“It will be a close call for Steamboat, but it looks to be cold enough for snow at the lower elevations even at the start of the storm,” wrote Mike Weissbluth, who runs snowalarm.com. “If not, any liquid will quickly turn to snow as cool air moves over northern Colorado by later Saturday.”

The high temperature on Saturday is expected to reach 38 degrees, according to the National Weather Service in Grand Junction.

Weissbluth expects the greatest snow accumulations will occur from Saturday afternoon through midday Sunday.
Snowfall in the Steamboat area is most favored by winds from the northwest, and Weissbluth said the northwest flow likely will not begin until the storm is mostly over.

“However, the strengthening storm may create some enhanced snows over our area on Sunday as warm and moist air from the plains to our east is lifted over the Rocky Mountains,” Weissbluth said. “I would expect 4 to 8 inches of snow by the Sunday morning report, with up to another 3 to 6 inches during the day if the enhanced snowfall materializes.”

Snow might then fall intermittently through Monday with the possibility of an additional couple of inches by Tuesday morning.

Weissbluth said there is a chance that another storm might hit the Steamboat area next weekend.

To reach Matt Stensland, call 970-871-4247, email mstensland@SteamboatToday.com or follow him on Twitter @SBTStensland.