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Warm with rain this evening before a dangerous winter storm Wednesday

Posted at 6:11 AM, Mar 12, 2019
and last updated 2019-03-12 14:56:01-04

Today’s Forecast:
An incredibly complex forecast awaits southern Colorado, starting today but really ramping up for Wednesday when a deadly combination of high winds and heavy snow slam into the Pikes Peak region.

Starting with the good news, most of today will be fantastic! Despite the heavy cloud cover, high temperatures will soar into the 60s across most of the lower elevations, but Pueblo to Lamar will likely be around 70 degrees! Other than the few scattered showers we saw early in the morning, most of today will be dry, other than snow in the southern mountains and some rain down the surrounding valleys. Better rain arrives late today and tonight across the I-25 corridor and then moves east into the plains.  A few scattered thunderstorms could be embedded in the rain late today and tonight, mainly from 5 to 8 pm tonight.

COLORADO SPRINGS: High – 64; Low – 37.  Scattered early morning showers but cloudy, warm and windy through the afternoon with mainly dry skies. After 5 pm scattered showers will want to return, and we can’t rule out hearing a few booms of thunder through 8 pm.

PUEBLO: High – 70; Low – 41. Isolated early morning showers but cloudy, very warm and windy through the afternoon with mainly dry skies. After 5 pm scattered showers and even a few thunderstorms through the early evening, with lighter rain past midnight.

CANON CITY: High – 67; Low – 39. A rain/snow mix across the area in the morning with mostly rain in town through the morning with mainly dry afternoon skies. Light rain will return later today through the evening hours with snow west of town and across the higher elevations in Fremont county overnight.

WOODLAND PARK: High – 53; Low – 31. Light snow through the morning hours and drier skies through the mid-afternoon. A wintry mix to light snow arrives late today through the overnight hours and that could lead to some slick roads for the early Wednesday morning commute.

TRI-LAKES: High – 50s; Low – 30s. Scattered showers mixed with some snow in the morning, and then rain later today through the overnight hours. A touch of snow late tonight could get mixed in with the snow, but snow is much more likely by tomorrow morning.

PLAINS: High – 60/70s; Low – 40s.  Mainly dry and warm from the morning through the afternoon with temperatures well into the 60s and even 70s around the highway 50 corridor! Rain and even a few thunderstorms return to the plains, moving east away from the interstate sometime after 5 to 6 pm today. Rain will continue to tomorrow morning, but Las Animas and Baca counties will likely dry up after 3 am.

WALSENBURG/TRINIDAD: High – 60s; Low – 30s. Snow over the Sangre De Cristos will add another 3 to 6 inches to the mountains, but down the elevations into the southern I-25 corridor, rain is expected after 4 to 5 pm through the overnight hours.


WEDNESDAY’S STORM:
Rain Wednesday morning quickly turns to snow, first over the mountains of the Front Range and then over the Palmer Divide as strong, cold air is blown in from Denver. The winds will be gusting into the 50 to 70 mph range around the Pikes Peak region, and this combined with heavy snow will lead to blizzard conditions across most of the city of Colorado Springs. The heaviest snow will fall across the north side of the city, from Woodmen north, but even downtown where only a couple inches are forecast, travel will be dangerous and not advised. Far less snow is forecast south of El Paso county to PUeblo county and south as well as the plains, but very strong winds will still make travel slow from low visibility.

EXTENDED OUTLOOK:
Leftover light snow and flurries will fall very early into Thursday morning, but most of southern Colorado will see a cold, dry and windy day on Thursday with sunshine towards the afternoon. The forecast will start rapidly warming as we head into the weekend with 40s on Friday and 50s/60s over the weekend! There are no rain or snow chances in the forecast from Thursday afternoon to early next week, so go ahead and wash the car on Friday!