Vail, Beaver Creek top snow milestones with more freshies in the forecast this week

Beaver Creek surpassed 200 inches of snow this season with seven new overnight Monday into Tuesday and more in the forecast (Beaver Creek Facebook photo).

Beaver Creek topped the 200-inch-for-the-season snow mark overnight Monday into Tuesday, recording seven inches new from a storm system that was still producing flakes as of 7:30 a.m.

Vail reported eight inches of new snow to top 250 inches for the season.

Both resorts had been warm and dry for the last week-plus after a cycle of storms through mid-February produced upwards of six feet of snow. Now forecasters are calling for more new snow toward the end of the week.

“Tuesday morning’s snow totals are in the 2-7 inch range, which is on the lower end of the forecast,” Opensnow.com meteorologist Joel Gratz wrote Tuesday morning. “Still, this is enough snow to enjoy powder on Tuesday’s first chair, and at least 1-4 additional inches should accumulate on Tuesday during the day.

“The next storm will bring snow from Wednesday night to Saturday morning, with the deepest totals in the southern and south-central mountains,” Gratz added.

Vail and Beaver Creek are in Colorado’s northern mountains.

The Colorado Avalanche Information Center was reporting “considerable” avalanche danger in the backcountry in and around Vail and Beaver Creek as of 7:30 Tuesday morning.

The Vail Daily and other news outlets on Monday were reporting the body of a snowboarder missing since Feb. 14 on Vail Mountain was found on Friday. The reports did not indicate where on Vail Mountain the deceased snowboarder was located, or if he was found out of bounds.

Driving conditions were also impacted by the most recent storm, with Interstate 70 closing and reopening twice overnight and U.S. Highway 24 also shut down due to multiple accidents during the night.

Check the Colorado Department of Transportation website for the latest road conditions.