A major snowstorm will bring up heavy snow to Denver, causing significant travel disruptions for the area. Parts of Wyoming, New Mexico, Utah and Arizona are also in for heavy snow.
In less than a day on March 13, the Denver area went from seeing thunderstorms with hail to seeing snow start to pile up.
What is likely to be the season's biggest storm will bury an area from downtown Denver southward to Colorado Springs and northward to Boulder, Colorado, as snow piles up into Friday morning, AccuWeather meteorologists warn. While the news is good for skiers, snowmobilers and other snow enthusiasts, travel may be shut down along portions of Interstate 25 and 70.
Colorado is a massive state encompassing 105,000 square miles, and the unfolding storm can bring accumulating snow and slippery travel to 80% of that area and unload 6 inches or more of snow on close to one-quarter of it.
Outside of some of the mountains and foothills, the storm began as rain on Wednesday, transitioning to a rain and snow mix Wednesday night.
A very tight gradient of snow accumulation will occur with the storm, with downtown Denver likely to be on the edge of that heavy snowfall ramp-up, AccuWeather Meteorologist La Troy Thornton said. This means there could be big differences in snowfall accumulation across just a few miles.
Downtown Denver is slated to pick up 10-15 inches, with about 6 inches for Denver International Airport, located northeast of the city core. This would make the snowfall bigger than the storm from Oct. 28-29 in at least part of the metro area. Airline passengers should anticipate significant flight delays due to deicing as well as flight cancellations.
That autumn storm dropped 7.5 inches of snow at the airport. It is common for the biggest snowstorms of the season to occur at either end of the winter, often during the late fall and early spring. During the heart of the winter, most storms tend to pass by to the south of the region.
Some of the snow will melt as it falls on paved surfaces at times, and because of the long duration of the storm, the actual amount of snow on the ground may surge and wane.
"The heaviest snowfall rates are likely to occur from late Wednesday night to Thursday, when the snow may fall at the intensity of 1-2 inches per hour," AccuWeather Storm Warning Meteorologist Joseph Bauer warned. Some locations will experience blizzard conditions when factoring in low visibility from the snow and winds gusting to 35 mph or more.
"Major impacts are expected along the I-25 corridor from Denver southward to the Palmer Divide, where snowfall in excess of a foot is expected," Bauer said.
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A whopping 1-3 feet of snow will pile up in many communities in the foothills just to the west and south of Denver and I-25, where an AccuWeather Local StormMax™ snowfall of 60 inches is most likely to occur.
Power outages are likely due to the wet, clinging nature of the snow over most of the Colorado High Plains and foothills. When combined with sap flowing and buds filling out on the trees, adding weight and surface area to the branches, large limbs may break, taking down power lines.
As of Thursday morning, the number of homes and businesses without power in Colorado was fluctuating between 15,000 and 20,000, according to PowerOutage.US. However, by the midday hours, the number without power had swelled to more than 40,000.
Heavy snow will also extend southward over the New Mexico and Arizona mountains, as well as on Utah's Wasatch Range.
"Motorists are likely to experience travel difficulties over the higher terrain along I-40 in New Mexico and Arizona," Bauer said.
Heavy snow will extend northward into a large part of Wyoming, where travel along Interstates 25 and 80 will be difficult in some areas.
This is a classic March snowstorm for Colorado. High temperatures in Denver on Monday and Tuesday were in the low 60s. Temperatures during much of the storm through Friday morning will hover in the upper 20s to low 30s. High temperatures in the 40s on both days of the weekend will prompt quick melting of the snow on the ground at low and intermediate elevations. By early next week, afternoon temperatures will climb well into the 50s in Denver.
In the days following the storm, the natural melting during the day will lead to runoff that will freeze into sheets of ice at night and pose a hazard for motorists and pedestrians.
Often, a mere flip of the wind, when combined with moisture from an approaching storm, is enough to allow the atmosphere to cool quickly and cause rain to change to snow in Denver. The city is about 5,300 feet above sea level, or roughly a mile high. When northeasterly winds blow, like during the upcoming storm, the air cools rapidly as it ascends.
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