Ski areas across the state are in for upwards of 2 feet of snow by Wednesday as the core of a second winter storm to hit within a week descends on the High Country. 

Major resorts already netted between 3.5 and 9 inches of new snow following a storm Sunday, Nov. 24. Though snowfall was interrupted by a dry spell Monday, winter weather returned early Tuesday morning and is expected to last through Wednesday night. 

Central mountain areas are favored to see deepest snow totals, though all mountain regions are anticipated to receive multiple inches of fresh power, said OpenSnow.com founding meteorologist Joel Gratz in a Tuesday blog post. 

“Forecast snow totals have not changed,” Gratz wrote “Most models still show 12-24 inches as an average across the state, with many locations likely cracking the 20-inch mark, and some areas possibly going above 30 inches, especially farther to the west and in the central mountains.” 

According to estimates from OpenSnow.com, projected Wednesday snow totals at major resorts include: 

• Keystone Resort, 15 inches
• Winter Park Ski Resort, 16 inches
• Breckenridge Ski Resort, 16 inches
• Arapahoe Basin Ski Area, 16 inches
• Copper Mountain Resort, 17 inches
• Loveland Ski Area, 17 inches
• Beaver Creek Resort, 19 inches
• Steamboat Ski Resort, 19 inches
• Aspen Snowmass, 22 inches

With the most intense snowfall hitting Tuesday night and into sunrise, Gratz predicted a “phenomenal powder morning” Wednesday, though he warned that avalanche risk could be elevated in the backcountry. 

The Colorado Avalanche Information Center rated avalanche risk for much of the High Country as a 4 out of 5 on the center’s danger scale — considered “high.” 

An avalanche watch is in effect for most mountain ranges from 5 p.m. Tuesday through 5 p.m. Wednesday while a more severe advisory — an avalanche warning — is in effect Tuesday afternoon through Wednesday for the Anthracite Range in Gunnison County and the area surrounding Monarch Mountain. 

The most dangerous areas for avalanches are wind-drifted north- and east-facing slopes near ridgetops, according to the information center. While backcountry travel is not recommended, officials issued concerns that deadly avalanche conditions could collide with increased recreation during the Thanksgiving holiday period. 

“There are still lots of great, safe places to go,” Colorado Avalanche Information Director Ethan Greene said in a statement. “We want people to check the avalanche forecast and make a plan that keeps them out of avalanche terrain or off of the dangerous slopes.”

The latest avalanche conditions for the state can be found at Colorado.gov/avalanche.

Warnings have also been issued for mountain travel through late Wednesday night, with the National Weather Service warning of “difficult to impossible” travel conditions at times. 

Winter weather is anticipated to subside by Thursday morning, and it will be “a while before we see another time of significant snow,” Gratz wrote. 

Early December is expected to be mostly dry, except for the potential to “get clipped by a few storms as they head to our east,” Gratz added. “Heading into this stretch of dry weather, we are lucky because this week’s storms will give us a deep snowpack, and the low sun angle of early December will preserve the snow at higher elevations and on north-facing slopes.”

Longer-range forecasts show the next potential for major snow will be around mid-December, though Gratz stated, “That’s too far into the future to trust exact times, so we’ll keep an eye on the pattern and hope that the second half of December is stormier than the first half.”