San Juan Mountains Weather: 12/2/2013

San Juan Mountains Weather: 12/2/2013

SJ-Weather_withJR_small-square_webThere are many ?’s concerning the approaching major winter storm system, but several things are certain–high winds and very cold temperatures with potential for Significant Snowfall especially in the central Colorado mountains.

Today will be mostly mild with increasingly cloudy skies & cooling temps.  The drama begins after midnight as an approaching cold polar front marches south.   With good jet support (140 kt) and abundant Pacific moisture mixed with the cold front, western Colorado will see intense snow fall depending on location.  The northern and central mountains will experience the first action and as the trough slumps southwesterly the San Juans should get their share late Tuesday and Wednesday.  By Wednesday evening the trough of low pressure will be moving east with diminishing snowfall, but snow will continue into Thursday leaving potentially several feet of snow on favored SW slopes above 11,000′.  COLD arctic air replaces the trough as it travels east with temperatures in the single digits or colder through the weekend.

Sage wisdom tells me with potentially deep new snow, high SW winds, cold temperatures combined with an already weak snowpack (weak bed surfaces), those changing variables will hopefully modify personal ski behavior by finding turns on low angle slopes.

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