Wintry Wednesday to impact travel locally
Nov 25, 2024
(SOUTHERN COLORADO) — Snow will increase over the mountains along and west of the continental divide into early Tuesday, Nov. 26, and become moderate to heavy at times through the day. Travel will become very difficult over the major mountain passes in the high country all the way into Wednesday, Nov. 27.
TIMING OF LOCAL TRAVEL IMPACTS:
As Wednesday begins, a cold front will be heading south over the plains of Colorado.
The arrival of the colder air will get snow flying locally. The snow will begin prior to sunrise in the Pikes Peak Region and spread south rapidly around sunrise. This will bring deteriorating road conditions during the morning commute with low visibility and varying road conditions.
Above 7,000' expect snowpack and ice, between 5,000' and 7,000' expect mainly slush, and below 5,000' expect mainly wet conditions.
STORM-CAST: TIMING OF THE SNOW AND RAIN
Use the arrows to move back and forth in time on Wednesday to see how the rain and snow will spread across Southern Colorado.
The eastern plains away from the Front Range will see a rain-snow mix and/or a cold rain below 4,500' on Wednesday. This will limit accumulation and travel impacts. Even so, in these areas, you should be prepared to reduce speed with roads likely to be wet.
Snow will end from north to south late in the day on Wednesday. The clearing overnight will have temperatures plummeting into the single digits over the mountains with teens along the Front Range as Thanksgiving begins.
While the snow will be gone, you should expect some areas of slick and icy roads to begin the day. The sun should help things improve rapidly through the morning toward noon.
Snow-Cast: How much snow to expect
Colorado Springs and Denver proper are likely to get between one and three inches of snow through the day on Wednesday. The Palmer Divide, at a higher elevation, is likely to get between three to six inches of snow with up to five to 10" possible on the slopes of Pikes Peak.
Pueblo proper is likely to get only up to two inches on the cooler surfaces and areas west of Pueblo on Highway 50 should expect to get between one and three inches of snow through Fremont County to about Coaldale. West of there to Salida could see up to six inches. The Wet Mountain Valley will likely end up with five to six inches with this storm.
Travel will be impacted over the Wet and Sangre de Cristo ranges where a solid five to 10" should be expected with some areas possibly getting up to a foot and a half by the time the snow ends. Colorado City to New Mexico should see three to six inches too.