Colorado Weather: Fierce Combination Of Wind And Snow Coming This Week

DENVER (CBS4) - A storm in California on Monday will race east into Colorado Tuesday night into Wednesday. Travel conditions will quickly deteriorate in the mountains and hurricane force wind will slam the southern and eastern regions of the state.

For the Denver metro area, the biggest impact form the storm is likely to be only wind. There could be a quick rain shower (yes, rain!) and maybe a few snow flakes on Wednesday, but no accumulating snow is expected anywhere outside of the mountains.

There is actually a better chance for rain and snow on the Eastern Plains compared to Denver and the Front Range Wednesday afternoon.

Mountain accumulation with this storm should top a foot for in the San Juan Mountains including for ski areas like Telluride, Purgatory, and Wolf Creek in southwest Colorado. Farther north, accumulation should be less with 4 to 8 inches on average for the Interstate 70 mountain corridor and probably a bit less around Steamboat Springs and the Rocky Mountain Nation Park region.

Unfortunately the storm track does not appear favorable for much needed precipitation in the metro area. The storm will move directly over Denver on Wednesday which means a westerly flow in the atmosphere. As the westerly wind descends down the leeward side of the mountains, it will work hard to keep the metro area since sinking air causes the atmosphere to dry. If the storm were to take a track farther south, there would be upslope winds on the north side of the storm which would overpower the downslope and cause precipitation.

So at this time, the chance for any precipitation around Denver, Boulder, and Fort Collins is 30% or less. But the chance for impactful wind is 100%.

Again, because the storm will track directly over the metro area, wind gusts should reach at least 50 mph on Wednesday. And for areas east of Limon and south of Colorado Springs, wind gusts could reach 80 mph. Hurricane force wind starts at 74 mph.

Similar wind is expected in the mountains where 80 mph winds will combine with the snow to cause considerable blowing and drifting. Visibility could be severely reduced on mountain roads and at top of most ski lifts.

After the mid-week storm departs our region Wednesday night, generally quiet weather will prevail through the weekend although it will be quite chilly on Friday as a weak storm passes. The mountains should get light snow on Friday but nothing should be able to reach the urban corridor.