Quick-hitting winter storm to unload heavy snow on Denver area
A small, but sneaky storm will dump heavy snow and snarl travel in Colorado into Friday, with Denver near the heart of the storm.
This bodycam footage from the Summit County Sheriff’s Office in Colorado shows the rescue of a man who was buried by an avalanche on Feb. 17. The man was dug out and sustained minor injuries.
A compact but potent winter storm will take just the right track to bring heavy snow to parts of Colorado, including the Denver metro area, into the midday hours on Friday, AccuWeather meteorologists advise.
Most storms that swing eastward across the Rockies tend to be large and often get shredded by the higher terrain. Sometimes, smaller, more intense storms hold together and can produce heavy snow in a narrow swath just to the north. An example of one such storm will take a path across central Colorado through Friday before diving southward over the Plains.
"The heaviest snow will fall, as usual, over the Rockies west of Denver, but several inches to a half a foot of snow can pile up in the city and the close in suburbs just to the south and west," AccuWeather Meteorologist Brandon Buckingham said.
At times, snow can fall at a rate of an inch or more per hour outside of the mountains, overwhelming even the most efficient road crews and leaving motorists slipping and sliding on area streets and highways. In the mountains and foothills, snowfall rates can exceed 2 inches per hour for a time, and some roads may close temporarily. The AccuWeather Local StormMax™ snowfall for this storm is 30 inches and is most likely to occur in the foothills to the southwest of Denver.
As the snow falls, travel conditions on area highways will remain slippery and airline delays and flight cancellations stemming from Denver International Airport will mount, even though lighter snow will fall there.
Some snow will extend south of the Palmer Divide and reach Colorado Springs, Colorado, but only up to a few inches are forecast for that metro area. Due to the compact nature of the storm, much of the snow may slide south of Fort Collins, Colorado.
In the wake of the storm on Friday afternoon, temperatures will climb into the 30s and cause the fresh snow to melt, helping with storm cleanup and allowing road conditions to improve.
As temperatures dip Friday night, untreated slushy and wet areas will freeze.
A much more substantial melting of the snow will occur outside of the mountains on Saturday with a high forecast to be near 50 in Denver.
With the storm departing in time for the weekend, ski resort conditions should be ideal. Saturday and Sunday will feature at least partial sunshine and light winds for much of Colorado ski country.
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