Quick Summary – What’s coming?
Snow will start showing up late tonight in the mountains and slowly spread into the I-25 corridor and plains by early Friday morning. Heavy snow accumulations are expected in the mountains and up along Monument Hill by the time the snow stops Friday night. While the lower elevations should expect snow, very little will accumulate due to warmer daytime temperatures.
What should my area expect?
Colorado Springs & Pueblo, you should not expect much snow to accumulate due to warmer daytime temperatures and roads that will melt the snow. The mountains and Monument Hill will be better areas for heavy accumulation. Drives to Castle Rock could be nasty pic.twitter.com/OzY6qQQOK0
— Sam Schreier (@SamASchreier) January 10, 2019
Monument Hill – Snow will start showing up sometime after 2 am and continue to fall through most of the day Friday, not ending till Saturday morning. Some of the early snow will melt, but we should start to see I-25 and the surrounding side roads get slick by 7 am. Monument Hill should see at least 2 to 3 inches by the time the snow is done falling, but some modeling supports up to 4 to 5 inches. Castle Rock is expected to see somewhere between 3 to 5 inches, so as you drive north during the day, you should expect slick and slow commutes.
Colorado Springs – Snow will start over the mountains sometime after 2 to 3 am and then spread into the city sometime closer to 5 am. Warm temperatures from Thursday and temperatures above freezing Friday afternoon will prevent most of the falling snow from accumulating from the morning to the afternoon. Snow won’t really have a chance to accumulate until the evening, but by that time not much will be left. Springs should expect around an inch, maybe two to actually collect by the time the snow is done Friday evening. Areas where snow could stack higher would be on the north side of town closer to Monument and west closer to the mountains.
Pueblo – Pueblo, like Colorado Springs, will have difficulty seeing snow accumulation from the warm day on Thursday and above freezing temperatures for much of the day on Friday. Yes some snow will fall periodically in the morning and afternoon, but we’re actually expecting quite a bit of this system to fall as a rain first and then switch to snow. Any accumulation would likely take place Friday evening, and would likely stay under one inch. Snow totals could be higher in places like Pueblo West and areas south of town where the terrain slopes up and we’re a bit cooler, but totals still look quite low.
Woodland Park – Woodland Park is another area where decently heavy snowfall is possible from Friday morning through the overnight hours. Snow will start falling late tonight, mainly sometime after 10 pm and continue falling off and on from Friday morning through the evening. Woodland Park was in the low 50s today, so the snow will melt drying the first few hours of it falling and not really collect until later in the day and early evening. Woodland Park, and really most of Teller county, should be able to collect about 3 to 4 inches of snowfall by Friday night, but a few spots could get closer to 6 inches.
Canon City – Snow is going to start falling late tonight, mainly during or after 10 pm and continue off and on through Friday morning till the evening. Because this system comes from the north, Canon City might get blocked out from heavy accumulations, but by Friday night around 1 to 2 inches are possible. Higher snow totals will likely fall west of Canon City out towards places like Cotopaxi and more so out to Salida.
Walsenburg to Trinidad – Better snowfall is expected through this stretch of I-25 due to higher terrain and colder temperatures. Some snow will start falling late tonight, sometime after 3 am, but the biggest accumulations will actually come Friday evening as this system moves south over the area and colder air moves in. Walsenburg should be able to collect at least 3 to 4 inches through Friday evening (not much during the morning/midday). Trinidad likely will not see as much as Walsenburg, but by Friday night at least a couple inches, maybe more are possible.
Wet Mountains (Rye/Beulah area) – Heavy snow accumulation is expected over the Wet mountains with colder daytime temperatures and a longer duration snow. Snow will start falling around 2 to 3 am and will fall almost all day and night with only a few breaks at a time. By Friday night, the Wets should easily have 5 inches of snow on the ground, but as the elevation increase, so do the snow totals. Rye and Beulah should be able to grab pretty close to 6 inches. Westcliffe, while not getting as much snow as the mountains, should still easily grab around 3 to 4 inches of snow through Friday night.
Sangre De Cristos – Like the Wet mountains, heavy snow will fall in the Sangre De Cristos from late tonight through Friday morning. Due to their elevation and colder air, heavy snow should be expected through Friday night with snow falling off and on from early Friday morning and just past midnight into Saturday morning. Snow totals in the mountains could easily be at or above 8 inches, but in towns like La Veta, 4 to 5 inches through Friday night looks likely.
Plains (areas east of El Paso and Pueblo counties) – unfortunately for the moisture starved plains, this will not be much of a snow. Areas along highway 50, like in Pueblo, will probably melt down quite a bit of the snow that falls, and during the day, rain will actually be likely with temperatures above freezing. Through areas like La Junta, Lamar, Fowler, Eads and the surrounding towns, less than an inch is expected. Las Animas county could be an area where snow stacks up just a bit better, due to the slight rise in elevation and colder temperatures overnight. Small towns like Kim could see an inch or two over Friday night but Baca county and Springfield should still remain at or under one inch.
