WEATHER UPDATE: Denver’s snow totals range between 2 to 4 inches and blizzard conditions hammered the Palmer Divide, including the Castle Rock area, making for treacherous travel conditions as the latest winter storm continues to drop heavy snow in Colorado’s mountains.
The heavy overnight snow continues to make for a messy morning commute, especially in south Denver metro areas, west of the city and east towards the Kansas border.
Both directions of I-70 remained closed for around 5 hours from Limon to Burlington, but the interstate reopened as of around 5:15 a.m. The Colorado State Patrol said to expect icy conditions and be on the lookout for snow plows working on the interstate.
While the bulk of the snow fell Sunday night and overnight into Monday morning, Denver7 Meteorologist Lisa Hidalgo said light snow will continue this morning.
"We picked up around 3 to 6 inches for the core of the Denver metro area and heavier snow for the foothills," added Hidalgo. "You're going to find some areas of heavier snow mainly west and south of Denver, toward C-470 and up along highway 285."
Very little additional accumulation is expected across the majority of the Denver metro.
The winter weather alerts are set to expire at 9 a.m. this morning.
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Winter weather alerts are in effect for a large portion of Colorado, including a new winter weather advisory for the Denver metro area, according to the National Weather Service (NWS) in Boulder.
“A storm system will produce blizzard conditions over the Palmer Divide and possibly to portions of the eastern plains tonight through Monday morning. Wind gusts up to 60 mph may occur with very poor visibility,” said the NWS.
Now through 9 a.m. Monday, Denver along with the metro’s western suburbs and Boulder will go under a winter weather advisory where between 3 and 6 inches of snow could accumulate, said the NWS.
Wind gusts up to 50 mph, especially east of Interstate 25 are possible and “snow and blowing snow will reduce visibility to a quarter mile or less” said the NWS, adding difficult travel should be expected and “hazardous conditions could impact the Monday morning commute.”
A blizzard warning will also go into effect at 6 p.m. Sunday for Elbert, central and eastern Douglas Counties including the cities of Castle Rock, Larkspur and Kiowa where widespread blowing snow could create dangerous conditions on the roads along with dropping between 4 and 8 inches of accumulation by Monday morning, said the NWS.
Wind gusts could reach up to 60 mph and visibility could drop to a quarter mile in these areas.
Portions of Colorado’s northeastern plains could also get hammered with blizzard conditions as a winter storm watch will go into effect Sunday night for portions of Elbert, Lincoln, Logan, Sedgwick, and Phillips Counties.
“Blizzard conditions are possible. Total snow accumulations 3 to 6 inches are possible. Winds could gust as high as 60 mph,” warned the NWS.
The cities of Limon, Sterling, Akron, Julesburg, and Holyoke are included in the winter storm watch.
Check latest Colorado winter weather alerts
Meanwhile, portions of Colorado’s mountains will go under a winter storm warning Sunday evening for heavier snow where totals could range between 8 to 14 inches in the southern Front Range Foothills, said the NWS.
The central Mountains were already under a winter storm warning through Sunday night for heavier snow.
“In the mountains, periods of snow will occur with the highest amounts in the central mountains,” added the NWS. Snow will also develop in the foothills and Denver metro area by late afternoon or early evening. Heaviest snowfall will be in the southern foothills.”
Across northern Colorado, a high wind watch is in effect through Monday morning in Larimer and Weld Counties where winds could howl out of the north at 40 mph with gusts up to 60 mph.
The communities of Briggsdale, Stoneham, Loveland, Pawnee Buttes, Grover, Nunn, Hereford, Fort Collins, and Raymer should expect periods of high wind through Monday morning.
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DENVER METRO SNOWSTORM TIMELINE
For Denver, the first half of the day should start out dry before rain arrives then switch over to snow by the evening hours.
“It’ll be dry for the early part of the day then as we get into the afternoon we’ll see showers and thunderstorms and could see snow by 7 to 8 o’clock,” said Denver7 Meteorologist Stacey Donaldson. “Snow in the metro will last through early Monday and that means a messy morning commute.”
Donaldson said to expect high winds along with the accumulations as most of the snow is expected to fall Sunday night into early Monday morning in the Denver metro and along the Front Range.
Motorists should prepare for slick and treacherous conditions Sunday night and Monday morning especially along I-25 south of Denver and I-70 through the mountains, added Donaldson.
Rain and thunderstorms should arrive in the Denver metro by the early evening hours before switching over to snow “and it should be pretty heavy down to our south and west,” said Donaldson.
Denver will reach an afternoon high of 54 degrees on Sunday before conditions deteriorate. After a slick morning commute, Denver’s high on Monday will struggle to reach 40 degrees before temps gradually warm back up to the mid 50s by Wednesday and 60s by Thursday before another storm system arrives by Friday.
While Denver's recent March snowstorm brought heavy wet snow and accumulations piled up across the metro, the official reporting station at Denver International Airport brought March's snow totals up to 6 inches, while the area normally reports 11.5 inches.
Denver's cumulative snowfall totals for this winter season stand at 35.1 inches, which is around 11 inches behind the normal 46.4 inches expected by the end of March.
To view the Denver snowfall statistics infographics in fullscreen mode click this link.
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