Photo Tour-30-40 Inches Of Snow Closes Access To Ski Areas in Colorado. What Happens Next?

Roads shut down Wednesday night in both directions of I-70 preventing access to many ski areas. Highway 40 shut down over Berthoud Pass to Winter Park. If you were not in position on the west side of the Divide  or at a ski area itself, you likely were not skiing on Thursday. Loveland, A-Basin, Echo Mountain and Eldora remained closed.

While 30-40 inch storms are not unusual in March for the Front Range of Colorado it will likely stack up in the top 5 storms. Ironically on the same date (March 13-14) in 2021 we had a deeper storm with 5-6 feet for the foothills and 26 inches for the City of Denver. That storm was a top 3 ranking wise.

The record for Colorado is 1913 where 43 inches of snow fell over several days in the City of Denver. That likely landed 6-10 feet for the foothills.

A stalled low pressure system in the 4 corners combined with another low that swung through Colorado Wednesday from the north with NE winds created a funnel of moisture that wrapped around Colorado pushing east along the Front Range (Upslope). This low is going to remain stationary through Saturday night. The southern mountains are favored later this week and weekend.

Powderchasers gambled on the only open road from the Front Range and headed up Boulder Canyon at 6AM Thursday morning. Eldora seemed like the most logical choice with 30 inches of snow. We had chased from Washington to Utah, and now Colorado in the past 3 days.

Several small slides were on the Shelf Road (Access to Eldora Ski Area). We were able to gain access to the town of Eldora that was completely buried under 30-35 inches of powder. It was painful to walk in waist deep snow to grab these photos versus pointing sticks or a board downhill.

One resident was using a snowboard to clear a path from his house to a car.

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Weather models are bringing in another strong wave of moisture from Thursday afternoon to the evening hours. We are forecasting another 12 plus inches for the mountains closest to the Divide but especially the Foothills. I-70 might remain closed all day on Thursday.

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