The snow season is off to an unusually slow start in Colorado, and Colorado Public Radio’s Ryan Warner stopped by the Denver7 studios to talk about it with Chief Meteorologist Lisa Hidalgo.
November was on pace to be one of the warmest on record, likely headed for a spot in the top 10 – and we’re nowhere near our average snowfall. While Denver was still waiting for its first measurable snow on Nov. 20, it’s typically seen more than a foot by the end of November.
We are currently at our second latest first snowfall on record. The latest ever on record (2021) was followed by the Marshall Fire.
Our snowpack was only at about 32% of normal statewide ahead of a storm that was forecast to bring a few inches to the high country Thursday night into Friday – with areas like the Dolores San Miguel River Basin doing a bit better at around 50% of normal.
One week out from Thanksgiving, the holiday was shaping up for seasonal normal temps with some uncertainty about precipitation.
“Weather wise, we’re pattern shifting,” Hidalgo said. “It looks like we are tracking another system Wednesday into Thursday, and that would bring with it a better chance for some mountain snow, and we're going to see chances off and on over the next five to seven days in the mountains."
The snow would be welcome by Colorado’s ski resorts, some of which have opened with extremely limited terrain. Durango on Thursday pushed back its opening day amid a dry spell.
"It is a super late start to the ski and snowboard season,” Hidalgo said, while saying there is still room for optimism. “I think this is going to be one of the driest, slowest starts to the ski season since the 2016-2017 year [...] That year, we had some crazy late season snow, so our numbers actually really came up above normal that year. So a lot can change. We can still see an awesome ski season.”
- Watch the rest of Lisa and Ryan’s climate conversation in the video player below:
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