Summit County forecast calls for snow through the weekend

A storm system has moved into Summit County and snow is in the forecast through Sunday.

But Jim Kalina, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Boulder, said powder junkies may want to keep their expectations in check, as this system doesn’t contain nearly as much moisture as the one that dumped more than 2 feet of snow on Summit last week.

“The last system had a strong, moist jet stream that came all the way from Hawaii,” Kalina said. “We don’t see that very often, but when we do the mountains tend to do really well with that kind of a system.”

Although a trough moved in and settled over the area Monday night, Kalina said there’s not as much moisture and the jet stream is significantly weaker than in last week’s storm.

However, Summit County can expect to receive snow accumulations of 1 to 5 inches daily between Wednesday and Sunday.

It’s also going to be cold, Kalina said, with daytime temperatures averaging in the teens all week except Friday, when the high could be in the low 20s. On Sunday, the trough will make its way out of the area, and Summit County could experience a slight warming trend with partly sunny skies and daytime highs in the mid-20s.

The warming trend looks like it will continue into Monday, Kalina said, with more clear skies and temps reaching the 30s.