Blizzard warning issued for northern El Paso County, severe weather on the way

Today: Winter weather conditions are headed our way. The severity of the blizzard-like weather will obviously depend on where you are. First and foremost the National Weather Service has issued a Blizzard Warning from northern El Paso County all the way to Wyoming starting at noon. Anywhere north of Monument will be experiencing heavy snow along with 50-65mph wind gusts. Hence the Blizzard warnings. Snow covered roads and zero visibility is likely all afternoon through into tomorrow morning. If you are forced to be on the roads this afternoon make sure to check in with CDOT to make sure the roads on your specific route are still open. I’m anticipating extensive road closures to our major interstates north of Monument. Colorado Springs will experience a slightly different storm than Monument. Lower elevations of El Paso County will be on the lighter end of the snowfall totals. The precipitation will start off as rain then slowly change over to snow. At the moment we’re thinking trace to 2″ of snow for Colorado Springs. Even though the snow won’t necessarily pile up, conditions will still be quite bad. Colorado Springs is under a High Wind Warning that starts at 4pm. Wind gusts will range between 50-65mph. When you combine that with any amount of snow, visibility is significantly reduced along with overall driving conditions. I’d recommend trying to get off the roads by early afternoon, better safe than sorry.

Tomorrow: Winds still quite gusty during the early morning hours. Blowing and drifting snow, as well as black ice, will be the main impacts. Most of the heavy snow will taper off during the morning hours. But I’d anticipate very tricky traveling conditions through much of the day.