Marty’s Saturday Morning Forecast – Wintry Mix! – 2/10/18

Today: A shallow layer of cold air will result in a light wintry mixture of freezing fog, freezing drizzle and light snow over lower elevations this morning. Although we don’t expect any heavy precipitation this morning, light accumulations of ice and snow are possible on some roadways, leading to some slick travel through about lunch time over lower elevations. Be particularly mindful of bridges and overpasses at lower elevations this morning since there have been pockets of freezing drizzle. Many of our higher, local mountain communities will likely escape the morning wintry mix with some sunshine early in the day. As we move into the afternoon we expect a more widespread area of snow to develop over the Pikes Peak Region. Areas of light, to at times moderate snow will slide southward through the afternoon producing enough snow to whiten more area roadways. Temperatures will remain in the teens to lower 20s today over lower elevations along and east of I-25, but some higher mountain communities may reach the 30s for a few hours this morning. Snow will also fall over the high country today where many of the ski resorts will likely receive 4″ to 8″ of new snow, and some of the higher peaks could receive up to a foot. Roadways over the high country will likely be snow packed for much of the day.

Tonight: Areas of light snow will continue sliding south, and eventually come to an end with clearing from north to south late. Total snowfall accumulations won’t be terribly impressive with many locations having received total snowfall accumulations of about 1″ to 4″ before the snow entirely ends. There may be some slightly heavier amounts on the order of 3″ to 6″ on the higher terrain near the Wet and Sangre de Cristo Mountains, and the highest peaks could receive over 6″. Although the overall snowfall accumulations don’t look terribly heavy, it will be cold enough that we expect snow to continue to cover many area roadways overnight making for wintry travel conditions. By morning, temperatures will have fallen into the single digits and teens for most areas, and the sky should be clearing.

Extended: Becoming mostly sunny but chilly on Sunday with high temperatures in the 30s to lower 40s. We expect a mixture of clouds and sun on Monday with cool afternoon temperatures in the 40s for most areas, but a few areas near the higher terrain southwest of Pueblo could reach the lower 50s. Tuesday should be a little warmer, particularly on the higher terrain, and we’ll likely have less cloud cover. Wednesday looks to be the warmest day of the week with high temperatures in the 50s and 60s, but it will probably be windy at times as well. Another shallow layer of colder air may slide over eastern Colorado Thursday & Friday causing the air to cool again, especially at lower elevations, but right now it doesn’t appear we’ll have much chance for precipitation through the end of the week.