A massive arctic cold front pushed into Colorado Saturday night, ending unseasonably warm temperatures in its icy grip.
The front, stretching from northern Arizona to the Great Lake region, dropped heavy snow in the mountains and forced multiple road closures.
Carl Burroughs, a weather technician at the National Weather Service in Boulder, said mountain areas could expect blizzard conditions with up to 16 inches of snow.
Front Range areas were expected to get between one to six inches of snow and a cold snap that lasts through Wednesday or Thursday.
The Colorado Department of Transportation closed U.S. 6 Loveland Pass and required chains on commercial vehicles at the Eisenhower Tunnel on Saturday night.
US-40 Craig to Blue Mountain, Colorado 64 west of Rangely, Colorado 13 between Rifle and Meeker and US 287 between Ted’s Place and Laramie, Wyo., were also closed.
Cheyenne experienced a drop in temperatures from 42 degrees to 8 degrees within a two hours Saturday night, Burroughs said.
A shift in the wind after 10 p.m. was expected to usher in sharp drops along the Front Range, erasing Saturday’s high temperature of 58 degrees.
Aldo Svaldi: 303-954-1410 or asvaldi@denverpost.com
