'Cold storm' with snow to push across western US into Friday
A late-season storm will deliver rain, mountain snow and chilly air from the Pacific Northwest to the Rockies, with travel impacts in higher elevations and temperatures plunging well below mid-April averages.
I-70 traffic resumed near the Eisenhower Tunnel in Clear Creek County, Colorado, after a 70-vehicle crash on April 14 injured 19 people.
A late-season storm has people in the Pacific Northwest reaching for winter coats following rain and mountain snow from midweek. The storm will bring snow to the interior West through Friday night.
The storm follows a separate storm from this weekend that brought soaking rain to Northern California, heavy snow to the Sierra Nevada and just enough snow to cause slippery travel in the Colorado Rockies.
"This will continue to be a cold storm for this time of year," said AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Dave Houk.
Temperatures will dip 10-25 degrees below the historical average for mid-April. Snow levels plummeted across the Northwest Wednesday and will drop across portions of the Rockies into Friday.
As the new storm moved onshore, snow fell across the Washington and Oregon Cascades through Wednesday night. The storm has since moved inland and also brought a mix of rain and snow to interior portions of the Northwest Thursday.
Conditions will feel more like early March than mid-April late this week across the Cascades and Sierra east to the western Rockies, eastern Washington, eastern Oregon, Nevada, Idaho, Utah, western Colorado and northern Arizona.
As the storm moves overhead through Friday night, several inches to a foot of snow will accumulate at intermediate elevations in Idaho, western Montana and northeastern Utah. Yellowstone National Park is forecast to pick up an average of 1-4 inches of snow.
Light snow also fell in Pocatello and Boise, Idaho; Great Falls, Montana; and Salt Lake City on Thursday.
In eastern Wyoming, temperatures will drop from the 60s to near 70 Thursday into the upper 20s and lower 30s Friday. In Colorado, temperatures spiked into the 70s Thursday before dropping into the 30s to near 40 Friday. Laramie, Wyoming, as well as Aspen, Colorado, could pick up an inch or two of snow before the end of the week.
The same cold storm will bring a sharp drop in temperatures in the Central and Eastern states this weekend to early next week, following an early-season heat wave.
Any moisture reaching the Colorado River basin will be welcome, following a very lean winter for storms. Much of northwestern Colorado is experiencing exceptional drought, the most severe on a five-point scale.
East of the Continental Divide, Denver has received only about 50% of its historical average snowfall this winter. The city at the base of the Rockies typically receives much of its snow in the fall and spring. However, no snow has fallen in the Mile High City since March 16.
Gusty winds will precede and accompany the storm across Nevada, Utah, western Colorado and northern Arizona throughout the latter part of the week.
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