A significant late-season winter storm is poised to impact a large swath of Colorado beginning Tuesday, with the National Weather Service issuing Winter Storm Warnings, Winter Storm Watches, and Winter Weather Advisories across the state.
Winter Storm Warnings
The most serious alerts are in place for the northern Colorado mountains. Rocky Mountain National Park, the Medicine Bow Range, and the northern Front Range foothills, including Red Feather Lakes, Estes Park, and Nederland, are under a Winter Storm Warning from midnight tonight through 3 PM Wednesday. Total snow accumulations of 10 to 24 inches are expected, with the heaviest snowfall above 8,000 feet. The peak of the storm is forecast to arrive Tuesday morning and persist through Tuesday night.
Winter Storm Watches
A Winter Storm Watch covers the Denver metro area and northern Front Range, including Fort Collins, Boulder, Denver, and Castle Rock, from Tuesday evening through Wednesday afternoon. Three to nine inches of snow is possible, heaviest on colder surfaces and west of I-25. The Summit County mountains, Mosquito Range, and Indian Peaks could see 6 to 18 inches, with the heaviest totals favored along and north of Interstate 70.
Winter Weather Advisories
Lesser but still impactful accumulations are expected across a broader area of the state. The Vail and Aspen areas, Crested Butte, the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, Pikes Peak, and the plains from Weld County south into Lincoln County all fall under Winter Weather Advisories, with totals ranging from 1 to 9 inches depending on elevation and location.
Forecasters warn that heavy wet snow will accumulate on tree branches and power lines statewide, raising the risk of outages. Travel could become very difficult to impossible at times, particularly Tuesday night into Wednesday morning. The Wednesday morning commute along the Front Range could be significantly affected.
Travelers can check Colorado road conditions at cotrip.org or by calling 511.
