Today’s Forecast:
Snow will continue to accumulate today with the heaviest totals expected along and south of Highway 50.
The two biggest impacts for commuters today will be accumulating snow and strong wind gusts.
As the snow expands east through the plains this morning, winds will steadily increase, creating blizzard-like conditions. The strongest wind gusts will occur between 10 am and 4 pm.
Snow is expected to become much lighter by 3 to 4 pm, but accumulations won't really stop region-wide until 6 pm. Snow will clear over the mountains first, the interstate second, and the eastern plains last.
Dangerous cold is expected today with steady or falling temperatures through the afternoon. This will lead to wind chills staying at or below 5 degrees for most of the day with higher elevation towns likely in the negatives until mid-morning Thursday.
Colorado Springs forecast: High: 15; Low: 3. Cloudy, windy, and very cold with accumulating snow through the early afternoon. The heaviest snow will fall through the lunch hour with an additional 2 to 4 inches of accumulation. Wind gusts will be in the 30 to 40 mph range with wind chills falling below 5 degrees.
Pueblo forecast: High: 20; Low: 1. Cloudy, cold, and windy with heavy snow through the early afternoon. The heaviest snow will fall from the morning through the early afternoon with an additional 3 to 6 inches of accumulation. Increasing wind gusts in the 30 mph range will result in low visibility and wind chills below 10 degrees.
Canon City forecast: High: 23; Low: 4. Cloudy, cold, and windy with blowing snow through the early afternoon. An additional 3 to 6 inches of snow is possible through the early afternoon, with the heaviest totals expected south of town towards Florence and up into the Wet Mountains. Wind gusts will be in the 20 mph range with wind chills below 10 degrees.
Woodland Park forecast: High: 12; Low: -6. Cloudy, cold, and windy with more snow through the lunch hour. We could see an additional 1 to 4 inches of accumulation by 11 am. The winds will be in the 20 to 30 mph range with wind chills staying at or below zero all day.
Tri-Lakes forecast: High: 10s; Low: >0. Cloudy, really cold, and windy with blowing snow through the lunch hour. We could see an additional 3 to 5 inches of accumulation by 12 pm. Winds will gust in the 30 mph range with wind chills below zero all day.
Plains forecast: High: 20s; Low: 10. Cloudy, cold, and really windy with blizzard-like conditions through the mid to late afternoon. We should see snow totals generally between 5 to 10 inches through the early evening, with snow leaving east across the Kanas border after 8 pm. Extremely difficult and dangerous driving conditions are expected in the afternoon as wind gusts increase to the 40 mph range, limiting visibility to less than a quarter of a mile. Wind chills will likely stay below 10 degrees all day.
Walsenburg and Trinidad forecast: High: 20s; Low: >0. Cloudy, cold, and extremely snowy with increasing daytime winds. Some of the heaviest snow in the region fell overnight along I-25 from Colorado City to Triniada, and we could see an additional 6 to 12 inches through the early afternoon. Driving is not advisable today based on the heavy accumulations we will see, and increasing wind gusts through the afternoon. Gusts will likely be in the 30 to 40 mph range. Wind chills will stay below 10 degrees all morning.
Mountains forecast: High: 10s; Low: >0. More snow and strong winds will blow across the mountains today, with the greatest accumulation expected through the late morning. We should see a general 2 to 5 inches of additional accumulation for most towns west of I-25 today, with the exception being the southern Sangre De Cristos and the Wet Mountains, which will see considerably more. Wind chills will stay at or below 0 for most of the day.
Extended outlook forecast:
The coldest air temperatures of this storm will arrive Thursday morning. Lows will be in the single digits across the plains with a few negatives mixed across the valleys. Any leftover wind will create early morning wind chills in the deeper negatives.
A warming trend is expected through the weekend with highs returning to the 50s and even a few 60s from Saturday to Sunday.
The next chance for snow arrives Monday in the mountains, and Tuesday across the plains.
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Curious about the First Alert 5 Weather Storm Impact Scale? Check out our cheatsheet explainer.
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