San Juan Mountains Weather and Snowpack Report–Wednesday, Oct. 5, 2011–10:00….

The current “Dry Slot”  09:30/10-5-2011

The upper level closed low on our doorstep will be upon us this afternoon.  Currently we’re in a dry slot that will soon move east as the Pacific storm begins to affect southwest Colorado.  This storm has brought a NWS “Winter Storm Warning” and will affect the area Wednesday evening through Friday morning.

The cold front will enter Colorado by sunrise Thursday supported by a strong jet pushing good orographic lift on southwest flow.  It will bring decent snow to the San Juans favoring RMP and south with up to a foot of snow.

Snow levels should start around 9,000′ tomorrow morning then may drop to 6-7000′ by evening along with a probable killing freeze for our beautiful summer gardens, but shouldn’t stick with stored warmth in the ground.  As the closed low exits on Friday we’ll see trailing energy and possible wraparound precipitation on our side (N.) of the mountains.  By Sunday the storm energy will have passed, replaced with drying conditions.