Weekend snow may deliver white Christmas to Boulder County
Dec. 22—Skiers, winter sports lovers in general and traditionalists who just wouldn't want it any other way will be cheered to know Boulder County might be looking at a white Christmas this holiday season.
It does not, however, appear to be a weather system that will affect people's ability to get together with friends and family on Monday.
According to the National Weather Service, both Boulder and Longmont should see some snow beginning Saturday night. Snow is expected to start after 11 p.m. and is likely to continue into Sunday morning.
Boulder could see new snow accumulation of around an inch, while Longmont could get less than a half inch of snow. On Sunday night, both Boulder and Longmont have a 20% chance of snow showers.
"There's still some uncertainty, but it looks like there will probably be some diminishing snow, or some kind of clearing, later on Christmas Eve," said Scott Entrekin, a forecaster with the NWS in Boulder. "Saturday night into Sunday morning is probably our best shot for accumulating snow."
Entrekin said the NWS expects conditions to dry out on Christmas Day. Monday is forecast to be mostly sunny, with a high around 32 degrees in both Boulder and Longmont.
"There's still a pretty likely chance of a white Christmas. It just wouldn't be snow falling, it would be snow already on the ground," Entrekin said.
On the NWS's online "Historical Probability of a White Christmas" map, both Boulder and Longmont have a 25 to 40% chance of seeing at least 1 inch of snow on the ground for Christmas Day. That probability increases for communities in the western half of the county.
Last year, neither Boulder nor Longmont saw snow fall on Christmas Day but had around 3 inches of snow on the ground. Days earlier, below-zero temperatures brought extreme cold to the area.
Signs of snow are encouraging to local ski buffs. At Alpine Base and Edge ski shop in Boulder, co-owner Kris Steigerwald watched a lot of regulars come in this week for services like ski tuning.
"As soon as a storm is identified...people will come in days before," Steigerwald said. "People get pretty excited, and we definitely see sort of a nice uptick."
Eldora Mountain Resort near Nederland will be open Sunday and Monday, 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sam Bass, marketing director for Eldora, said that Christmas Eve and Christmas Day aren't often very busy for the resort, but this year might be different with the expected snow and long holiday weekend.
"Anytime it snows...we typically see a spike in interest to come skiing and snowboarding," Bass said. "Even if it snows in Boulder and doesn't snow much up here, it gets people in a winter frame of mind. They look outside and they say, 'Oh, we should go skiing!'"
Plus, Bass said, Christmas is a great time to hit the slopes.
"Everybody wants it to snow on Christmas," Bass said. "People often have family and friends in town, and they're looking for a fun, quick getaway. It makes sense to come for a half-day, or even just a couple of hours, and then you can go home and wrap presents."
Bass said snowfall at Eldora has been a little lighter this season than last year, with snowpack on the slope hovering around 20 inches. That means any new snow is helpful.
"It's good news for us and I think for all of our skiing and riding guests that we'll get a fresh layer of snow Saturday and Sunday," he said. "It'll be a wonderful gift for all of us."
