Parts of Colorado’s mountains are on track to see more than a foot of fresh snowfall by early Saturday morning, according to the National Weather Service.
Snow will start Thursday afternoon in the mountains and continue through Friday, weather service forecasters said. As of Tuesday, most of Colorado’s ski areas and mountain passes were forecast to see between 1 and 4 inches accumulate by Friday morning, but the amount of snowfall expected on Friday remained unknown.
When the weather service extended its forecast on Wednesday through 5 a.m. Saturday, the snowfall expected across Colorado’s mountains multiplied. :
- 2 inches on U.S. 6’s Loveland Pass, U.S. 40’s Berthoud Pass near Winter Park and Colorado 125’s Willow Creek Pass near Granby;
- 2 inches at Winter Park and at Bear Lake in Rocky Mountain National Park;
- 3 inches on Interstate 70’s Vail Pass;
- 4 inches on Colorado 14’s Cameron Pass near Fort Collins and U.S. 34’s Milner Pass in RMNP;
- 6 inches on U.S. 40’s Muddy Pass near Kremmling, with up to 8 inches possible;
- 9 inches on U.S. 40’s Rabbit Ears Pass near Steamboat Springs, with up to 11 inches possible;
- And 13 inches on Mount Zirkel, the highest peak of the Park Range in the Rocky Mountains, with up to 16 inches possible.
The snow will create slick travel conditions on Colorado’s mountain passes, and drivers should be prepared to tackle winter weather in higher elevations, according to a from the weather service.
No snow is expected to fall in the Denver area or across the Eastern Plains, according to the weather service. Above normal temperatures will continue in Denver through the weekend, .
Denver temperature highs are forecast to peak in the low 60s until Tuesday, when a high of 55 degrees is expected, according to the weather service. The average high for Denver this time of year is 44 degrees, .
