#Summit County #Colorado
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| Special to the Summit Daily |
Summit Daily Link
In the wake of this season's lack of early snowfall, the founder of a popular snow forecasting website for skiers nationwide will host a "Pray for Snow Party and Snow Science Talk" here in the county on Wednesday.
OpenSnow.com founder and meteorologist Joel Gratz, in conjunction with the town of Frisco, the ELEVATE Innovation Center and the Mountain Outdoor Recreation Alliance, will host the free event at the Frisco Adventure Park Day Lodge at 621 Recreation Way at 5:30 p.m., with doors opening at 5 p.m.
Gratz's talk will include OpenSnow's outlook for the rest of the winter. He'll also share tricks for forecasting snow and powder here in Colorado's mountains.
"I've heard Joel speak before — in a cow suit in fact — and he has a remarkable way of demystifying weather forecasting and modeling while being insanely entertaining," said town of Frisco spokeswoman Vanessa Agee. "I use OpenSnow myself because of the in-depth, honest and accurate forecasting I find there. It's the real deal, and I hope folks check out this talk."
“It’s the real deal, and I hope folks check out this talk.”Vanessa AgeeTown of Frisco spokeswoman.
Gratz's OpenSnow was created by a team of weather forecasters who have a life-long passion for skiing, boarding and chasing powder. During the winter, OpenSnow's forecasters provide updates that point skiers across the country to the best powder conditions, as the company says more than 1.5 million skiers and riders use the website.
On Saturday morning, Gratz forecasted snow here in the state beginning Saturday afternoon, continuing Saturday night with a best chance to ski powder on Sunday morning.
"We'll dry out on Monday into Tuesday," he continued, "then snow will return from later Tuesday through later Thursday. Another round of storminess should arrive on or around January 18th."
"Tuesday afternoon through Friday (of this week) we'll see multiple waves of snow move close to and over Colorado," Gratz added. "I still have low confidence in the details of this storm, but it looks probable that most mountains will see snow during the middle of next week, with the best powder available on Wednesday and perhaps even better on Thursday. Keep these days on your radar. After that, we will likely see drier weather from about January 12-17th (maybe a few showers in the northern mountains) and then a stormy pattern should set up starting on or around January 18th.
"It is looking likely that we'll see significant snow, colder air, and powder after this date through late January. It feels good to write that!"
Beer, wine and non-alcoholic beverages will be available for sale at the event.
