Whippings Winds Ahead Of Mountain Snow

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By Lauren Whitney
DENVER (CBS4) -

Relentless winds in Colorado on Wednesday, we had gusts over 80 mph on Berthoud Pass! The wind will stay stay strong well into the night and possibly even gusty at times on Thursday.

These strong winds ushered in more warm temperatures to the Front Range, we were in the upper 60s on Wednesday.

Snow will start cranking up Wednesday night into Thursday for the mountains.

Wind gusts over 30 mph on Wednesday will push Front Range temperatures into the upper 50s and lower 60s. The wind is ahead of storm that will hit the mountains hard Wednesday night. Wind will slam the higher mountains (above about 9,500') with snowfall rates up to 1-2" per hour and relentless wind.

A Winter Storm Warning has been posted for all mountain areas along and north of the I-70 corridor including the mountains of Summit and Eagle Counties as well as the Winter Park and Steamboat Springs areas from Wednesday night through Thursday night. Travel will become very difficult especially over the mountain passes like Vail, Berthoud, Loveland, Rabbit Ears as well as the east and west approaches to the Eisenhower Tunnel. Total accumulation will exceed a foot in some spots.

We also have Winter Weather Advisories for the southwestern mountains where up to a foot of snow is possible. Other lower elevations like Craig and Hayden could see 2 to 6 inches of snow.

We'll stay dry in eastern Colorado on Thursday, but we get much colder with more clouds through the afternoon. We could see some flurries in Denver in the evening, with stronger bands of snow on the plains.

Sunny and cool weather is ahead for Friday before a beautiful weekend...sunny skies with mainly in the 50s. Possibly 60 on Sunday!

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Watch meteorologist Lauren Whitney on CBS4 News on weekday evenings at 5, 6, 6:30 p.m. Check out her bio, connect with her on Facebook or follow her on Twitter @LaurenCBS4.