Colorado’s high peaks, including several ski resorts, received a smattering of snow Monday as forecasters predict a turn toward more wintry conditions ahead.

Meteorologist Seth Linden — who runs Seth’s Weather Report, a popular Facebook page that provides mountain forecasts — said snow from the brief storm on Monday morning hit Summit County, the Berthoud Pass area and several ski resorts. He said the mountains could be in store for another small storm this week before more winter weather early next week.

“This time of year, the winter jetstream is just getting going,” Linden said. “People want to make calls about how winter is going to be based on how October goes. I always have to remind people, ‘You can’t. We’re just getting started.’ There’s going to be a lot of variation, and October weather doesn’t translate very well into what December and January are going to be like.”

While Linden said forecasts had predicted some snow on mountain passes on Monday, the actual snow totals “were a little bit unexpected,” with more snow in towns and at lower elevations than anticipated.

Towns in Summit and Grand counties — including Frisco, Silverthorne, Breckenridge, Dillon, Keystone, Fraser and Winter Park — awoke to snow on the ground on Monday. Linden noted it was the first time some of these places had seen real snow accumulations in town so far this winter. The precipitation on Monday turned into rain most places west of Vail Pass and east of Georgetown, except at higher elevations.

“A week ago, sort of in between those little tropical systems, parts of southern Colorado like Salida and Buena Vista got their first snowfall, and that was even before Dillon and Silverthorne which is odd,” Linden said.

The early-season snowstorm also stymied traffic in the mountains, briefly closing Interstate 70 near the Eisenhower-Johnson Memorial Tunnels and causing slide-outs on mountain passes, on Monday morning.

While no Colorado ski resort has opened for the season, snowstakes at several mountains showed accumulations. On Monday morning, snowstakes at Loveland Ski Area and Eldora  Mountain both showed around 4 inches, snowstakes at Arapahoe Basin Ski Area and Winter Park Resort showed about 2 inches and the snowstake at Copper Mountain showed about a half inch to an inch.

At this point in the season, Linden said “snowmaking has started in earnest for a lot of the major ski resorts” and much of the natural snow that falls is likely to stick around through the winter, especially on mountain aspects that don’t see the sun.

“It’s cold enough and it’s shaded enough — that’s really one of the main things — it’s shaded enough on north- to east-facing slopes that the snow just stays,” Linden said. “It’s not going to melt.”

Looking ahead, Linden said forecasts show another wave of precipitation from Thursday into Friday this week, then a brief warm period Friday and Saturday, before temperatures drop and the chances of snow return Sunday.

Overnight Thursday into Friday, Linden said that another small storm could bring 1-4 inches of snow accumulation to Colorado ski resorts, with towns above about 8,500 feet likely to have some snow accumulation.

Friday and Saturday are expected to be “nice” with a brief window of warmer weather, before temperatures drop Sunday, Linden said. While exactly how much snow Colorado could receive next week is unclear, he said there is a chance for two storms that could bring “several inches” to the ski resorts.

“This is where it gets really uncertain,” Linden said. “I do see this colder, snowier period between this upcoming Sunday to potentially Wednesday or Thursday.”

Even further out, long-term forecasts continue to suggest that a weak La Nina signal could result in average to above-average precipitation for Colorado’s northern and central mountains, Linden said. In the southern mountains, he said the signs are pointing to a below-average or average season.

So, when will the first ski resort open?

“That’s a good question,” Linden said, noting that with no “monsterous” storms in the forecast, ski areas are relying on snowmaking, though small amounts of natural snow will help.

“I would put bets on the following week,” he said. “If you look at the forecast, there’s more natural snow. They would be pretty hard pressed to get it going this weekend. I feel like the following week is going to be higher chances.”