Colorado snowstorm will hit the Wednesday morning drive
Wednesday is a First Alert Weather Day for Denver and all of Colorado's Front Range.
A strong November storm system will bring a prolonged period of wet, snow and colder weather across Colorado and the Rocky Mountain region. The storm system will evolve into a cut-off low that is will not be driven by a strong jet stream. As a result, the low pressure area will linger in the southwest and Rockies through Saturday. This will bring in several waves of snow for the Front Range.
The strongest waves of snow will occur Tuesday night into Wednesday and again on Friday into Saturday morning. There are several advisories and warnings for heavy snow and strong winds in many areas of the state.
Let's start with the warnings near the Mile High City and Front Range. There is a winter storm warning through Wednesday evening from Castle Rock and Parker down north to Colorado Springs, where 5 to 10 inches of snow is expected with wind gusts of 30 to 40 mph. That warning extends out across Limon and Burlington as well.
There are winter weather advisories for less wind and lighter snow amounts in the foothills of Jefferson County and western Douglas county for 5 to 10 inches of snow. Eastern Adams County and eastern Arapahoe County may see 2 to 7 inches.
Many Front Range communities are not in the advisories and warning areas, including downtown Denver. These areas may also see some accumulating snow including what may be the first official snowfall for Denver, where we may see 1 to 3 inches of snow.
In the mountains of our home state, snow amounts for the northern and central mountains may be in the 4 to 8 inch range. In an upslope storm like this typically, the Front Range mountains and foothills along with eastern Colorado can receive a lot more snow than the high country.
The southern mountains may see a foot of snow or more. Especially, in the Sangre De Cristo Mountains where a winter storm warning is in place for 8 to 18 inches of snow.
Light snow is expected on Thursday with another possibility of heavier snow Friday into Saturday morning as our cut-off low spins over southeastern Colorado. More to come on how that blast of snow turns out. But, it will be another significant snowmaker for Colorado.
