More snow could be headed to the Colorado High Country amid an already snowy March.

With ski areas across the state hopping for more precipitation to help keep their base area snowpack depths deep enough for skiing and riding well into spring — and potentially summer — the upcoming storms aren’t expected to boost snow levels dramatically, but many areas should see conditions soften throughout the week. Statewide snowpack continues to trend above normal, 108% of the 30-year median, as the day that the state normally sees its snowpack levels peak nears, April 7.

After a dry period Wednesday, March 27, National Weather Service forecaster Bruno Rodriguez said that on-and-off snow showers are expected to continue in the mountains through at least Monday, April 1.

“There are quite a few opportunities for a little additional snow over the next week or so,” Rodriguez said. “Most of it does look to be quite low though. So, we’re expecting impacts to be on the minor side and kind of sporadic.”

Along the Interstate 70 mountain corridor, there is a chance of snow every day headed into the weekend, but the snowfall is expected to be light enough that it will not have major impacts on travel, Rodriguez said. Then, a stronger storm system is expected to move into the mountains Sunday night into Monday, bringing with it the potential for higher snow accumulations, he said.

Colorado’s northern and central mountains could receive between 2-8 inches between Thursday night and Saturday night, OpenSnow founding meteorologist Joel Gratz wrote in a daily snow report for the state. Since temperatures are expected to hover around 30 degrees and the rain-snow line is forecast around 8,000 feet elevation, some of the precipitation could fall as rain at base areas while higher up on the mountain snow will be more dense.

The next storm from Sunday into Monday is trending weaker, but moderate snow accumulations and some powder Monday are still possible, Gratz said.

Things are also looking good for a storm system to move across Colorado sometime between Friday, April 5 and Monday, April 8.

As for ski resort snow totals, five-day forecasts released Tuesday by OpenSnow.com show numerous mountains receiving 6-12 inches, including Breckenridge, Copper Mountain, Arapahoe Basin, Loveland Ski Area, Vail Mountain, Beaver Creek and resorts in Aspen. Steamboat Springs and Crested Butte have the most favorable forecasts, with each expected to get up to 16 inches.

While Colorado tends to experience a weaker impact from El Nino than other parts of the U.S., Rodriguez said that this winter seems to be aligning with historic El Nino patterns where the jet stream can contribute to more frequent spring storms. 

Major spring storms east of the Continental Divide are especially common during El Nino years, and the storm that dropped between 3-5 feet of snow along the Front Range earlier this month was no exception, Rodriguez said.

“We’re seeing the snowpack improving quite a bit over the past few weeks as well with fairly consistent storms,” Rodriguez said. “We’ve had a couple of these back to back now.”

While the eight to 14 day long-range forecast from the National Weather Service shows high probabilities for above average precipitation and temperatures below normal, the one month and three month outlooks both show a likely warming trend that calls for average to below average precipitation.