How to tell how much snow your favorite Colorado ski resort will get

Colorado’s jagged jumble of mountains, valleys, ridges and rivers creates a multitude of microclimates that can cause snowfall on a particular day to range from 2 feet of legendary Champagne Powder at Steamboat to just an inch at Aspen. 

Joel Gratz and Sam Collentine, forecasters at OpenSnow, have a better handle on this than most people, and took some time away from predicting snowfall at Colorado ski resorts to offer clues about when it will snow the most at your favorite Colorado resort, starting with the basics.

Why Colorado gets snow storms

Gratz said stormy weather involves a pretty simple recipe. In fact, he joked, the first page of all meteorology textbooks should say: “For interesting weather, you need moisture and rising air.”

Westerly winds…