Between 1 and 2 feet of snow could be on its way to Colorado’s High Country this weekend, marking the first major storm since mid-January. 

Snow could begin falling in southern mountain regions Thursday night and into Friday before moving toward the central and northern areas on Saturday and into Sunday. 

“We do expect to have a fairly large weather system make its way from west to east across the state,” said National Weather Service meteorologist Greg Heavener. “It looks like anywhere from a foot, if not maybe two feet of snow, is possible across the High Country.”

Saturday will be mired in “several rounds of heavy snow” throughout the day. Scattered snow showers could be possible Sunday morning and into the afternoon but will likely stop by the evening, Heavener said. 

The most snow accumulation will occur in northern mountain regions along the Continental Divide. According to projections on OpenSnow.com, ski areas along the Interstate 70 corridor, including Vail Mountain, Breckenridge Ski Resort, Copper Mountain Resort and Beaver Creek, could receive between 11 and 18 inches of snow by Sunday.

Winter Park Resort could see 19 inches, Steamboat Resort could see 17 inches and Aspen’s mountains could see between 11 and 16 inches. 

“From a skiing perspective … the snow will start dense ahead of a lighter snow quality during the second half of the storm,” wrote OpenSnow meteorologist Sam Collentine in a Jan. 31 blog post. “This should be an ideal storm to cover up the hard base so that we can enjoy fluffier turns by Saturday afternoon and into Sunday morning.”

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Collentine added “wet and slushy road surfaces” will begin to form early Friday afternoon, followed by “icy and snow-packed surfaces from Friday evening through at least Sunday morning.” 

“Expect slow travel speeds and road closures due to accidents from Friday night through Saturday night” before road surfaces begin to clear on Sunday afternoon, Collentine wrote.

Heavener said this storm, which originated in the Pacific Northwest, will be wetter than what is usual for this time of year, with Heavener adding those conditions are more typical in March or April.

Weather service projections show the storm could produce a 12:1 or 13:1 snow-water ratio, meaning for every 12 or 13 inches of snow there could be 1 inch of water.

That’s more wet than the massive storm that pummeled mountain areas over the Martin Luther King Jr Day weekend. For example, Heavener said a station near Silverthorne recorded a 22:1 ratio between Jan. 12 and 16. A recording near Heaney, north of Silverthorne, clocked a ratio of 42:1 during that same time. 

Larger ratios tend to bring more light, powdery snow while smaller ratios are more heavy and wet. 

“It won’t be quite a sloppy slushy snow, but also not a complete powder,” Heavener said of this weekend’s storm.

The wet snow is poised to help Colorado’s snowpack, which surged during January’s back-to-back storms but has since leveled off after a week-long dry spell. Statewide snowpack currently sits at 86% of the 30-year-median, according to United States Department of Agriculture Data. 

The snowpack’s water equivalent, which represents the amount of water predicted to melt and become runoff in the late spring and early summer, is currently 8.1 inches. An average season will usually peak at 17.5 inches. 

“It looks like it’s going to be one of those really wet, moisture-laden snows, which is good in general for water supply going forward,” Heavener said.