Snow totals are in from the first big storm of the season and Summit is sitting pretty.
Copper Mountain claims 26 inches from this storm cycle, late Thursday into Monday morning. National Weather Service was forecasting only 14 inches on the upper end.
Every other I-70 ski resort claimed at least 15 inches in the past week:
- Vail… 31 inches
- Breckenridge… 22 inches
- Keystone… 20 inches
- A-Basin… 20 inches
- Loveland… 18 inches
- Beaver Creek… 15 inches
After a warm, dry November, this snow was a blessing for skiers but a headache for travelers.
On Saturday, Dec. 6, the I-70 mountain corridor closed twice for blowing snow and whiteouts between the Eisenhower-Johnson Tunnels and Georgetown. Barely 18,000 cars braved the tunnels on Saturday, making it the slowest Saturday since October 2023, when a pre-Halloween snowstorm dumped a foot of snow on the mountain corridor.
Gusty, blustery winds
Today, Dec. 8, forecasters warn of nasty winds. Already this morning winds are gusting over 50 miles per hour at the summit of Loveland Pass. Just after dawn today a commercial motor vehicle got stuck on the slippery switchbacks above Arapahoe Basin, closing U.S. 6 at Loveland Pass for more than two hours.
The wind will get worse as the day goes on. By tonight winds could be gusting up to 85 miles per hour. By tomorrow they could peak at 90 miles per hour.
A high wind warning shows the worst of it coming to Grand County, including Berthoud Pass, and the Front Range foothills. Some areas might suffer power outages through the end of the warning on midnight Tuesday, Dec. 9.
Avy danger rising
For the first time this season avalanche danger is considerable (at and above treeline) in Summit County and the Vail area.
No one was injured by a slide this weekend, according to the Colorado Avalanche Information Center, but there were several reports of wind lips and cornices breaking off above treeline in Summit. These areas remain the most suspicious today.
