A brief blast of snow, then another warm week before winter returns to Vail

Fifty degrees in February? Certainly not unheard of in the Vail Valley, but definitely unusual.

Those were the temps the last couple of days at Vail and Beaver Creek (Feb. 9-10), causing some concern for those of who need to see the ski season stretch through the third week of April. And the good news is winter was set to return on Saturday, Feb. 11, with 5-10 inches of new snow.

Then another week of spring-like temps are in the forecast before a more seasonable, winter storm pattern moves back in the week of Feb. 19.

“Monday through Friday [Feb. 13-17] should be dry for most mountains,” meteorologist Joel Gratz of Opensnow.com reported on Feb. 10. “The lingering storm to our south could toss more flurries and clouds into Colorado, but I doubt we’ll see much more than this. Expect a warm and sunny week!

“Then the period from February 18-28 continues to look stormy with at least three systems that could bring snow to Colorado. I am still being vague about this forecast because there is no consistency in the timing or track of any of these storms, so it would be foolish for us to discuss the forecast in more detail.”

But that’s some hope, at least, for a colder and snowier second half of February than the relatively warm and dry first half, and that bodes well for Vail and Beaver Creek, which don’t close until April 23 and April 16 (Easter Sunday) respectively.