I-70 Daily Snow

Summary

Dry on Thursday ahead of periods of moderate to very heavy snowfall from Thursday night through Friday afternoon. Extra fluff potential on Friday night, followed by dry weather on Saturday and Sunday. Two more storms take aim for Colorado on Monday and again on Thursday. Snow tires and AWD/4WD recommended if you're traveling along the corridor through Friday night. Significant travel impacts possible Thursday night through Friday evening.

Short Term Forecast

I-70 Snow Report 

Full Conditions Report

I-70 Travel Conditions

Slick and wet surfaces from Glenwood Springs through the Eisenhower Tunnel. Slower travel speeds will continue through Thursday. Icy and snow-packed road surfaces return on Thursday night and continue through Friday night. Much slower travel speeds and accidents will be possible. 

CDOT Alerts

CDOT Twitter

Expect heavy traffic in both directions throughout the upcoming weekend. Check out the GOI70 Travel Forecast for the latest updates.

Thursday

It's the calm before the storm on Thursday. Expect partly to mostly cloudy skies as we await the arrival of a strong storm on Thursday night. 

Thursday Night - Friday

The storm that we've been discussing all week will finally arrive on Thursday night. A deep plume of Pacific moisture will stream into Colorado from the southwest and even though a west-southwest wind direction is not ideal for areas along I-70, we'll still be looking at 3-6 inches of dense snow by Friday morning. 

We'll then see the wind shift to blow more from the west and northwest by late Friday morning. This will combine with colder air to give us yet another 3-6+ inches through Friday evening before the storm begins to wind down on Friday night. 

The one wildcard on Friday night will be cool, northwest flow on the backside of the storm as it exits the state. This can sometimes produce very fluffy snow so keep an eye on our snow stake cams to watch it pile up. 

In total, we can expect 5-10+ inches from Thursday night through Friday night, with double-digit totals possible for many locations. This would give us the softest turns on Friday (storm skiing) and again on Saturday morning.

For travel, snow-packed road surfaces and tough travel conditions will be the story from Thursday night through Friday evening. Very heavy snow on Friday could also cause accidents due to less than ideal travel conditions so try to limit your travel along the corridor on Friday if you can.

Saturday - Sunday

There could be a few leftover clouds and showers on Saturday morning but dry conditions will prevail by the second half of Saturday and into Sunday. Look for temps in the teens to low 20s on Saturday and in the 20s on Sunday. 

For travel, the road surfaces will still be slick and snow-packed on Saturday morning but mostly dry surfaces should prevail by Saturday afternoon. Expect normal travel speeds from midday Saturday through Sunday. 

Extended Forecast

Next Week

Following the break on Saturday and Sunday, our next round of snow will quickly follow by Sunday night and into Monday. This system will dive down from the northwest and look to deliver 2-5 inches through Monday night. 

Looking further ahead, there should be yet another system in the works around Wednesday and Thursday, January 23rd and 24th as Colorado sits right on the edge of stormy weather to our east and dry weather to our west. 

As always, keep an eye on our 1-10 day forecasts for each mountain and right here for the latest updates.

Thanks for reading!

SAM COLLENTINE

Contact me: [email protected]

Announcements

Snow Science & Adventure Pub Night 

I'll be giving a short talk on the evening of Monday, January 28th at New Terrain Brewing in Golden that will cover all things OpenSnow. RSVP & view more details.