I-70 Daily Snow

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By Sam Collentine, Meteorologist Posted 1 year ago December 1, 2022

Heavy Snow & VERY Strong Winds Friday

Summary

Dry on Thursday. A quick-moving but significant storm arrives on Thursday night to deliver heavy snow and very strong winds through early Friday afternoon. Travel will become extremely difficult, if not impossible, due to blowing snow on Friday morning. Dry Friday night. Chances for light snow Saturday into Sunday. Another round of heavy snow is possible early next week. Stormy weather continues!

Short Term Forecast

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Thursday

Dry conditions will remain in place for Thursday under mostly sunny skies.

Temps will climb into the 30s under increasing cloud coverage come early Thursday afternoon. Increasing wind and cloud coverage throughout the day will be the signal for our next round of snow.

Friday

Our next round of snow will then quickly make its presence felt by early Friday morning as a strong cold front, a good slug of moisture, and significant jet stream support swing through Colorado.

Snow showers will develop through late Thursday night before turning into heavy snow through Friday morning. Besides the heavy snow, the really important variable that we'll be watching for is very strong winds between about 6 AM and 12 PM on Friday.

Wind gusts will likely reach 40-60+ MPH, as seen in our high-resolution wing gust map layer below. This will almost certainly cause wind holds for the ski lifts on Friday morning.

The storm should then begin to exit and our wind speeds will calm down by early Friday afternoon. Clearing will take place and any remaining snow showers will end by late Friday afternoon.

In total, I'm going to go with 3-8 inches for this storm, with Beaver Creek and Vail coming out of the higher end, with lesser amounts further east into Summit County. Friday will be full-on storm skiing but remember that wind holds will be possible. Friday afternoon could be the time to get and enjoy the fresh snow.

Saturday - Sunday

The weekend will then be interesting to watch. There should be dry weather on Saturday morning before chances for snow showers increase as we head into Saturday night. Temps will be in the 20s on Saturday before a slight warm-up on Sunday. Stay tuned for further updates on the weekend.

Travel Forecast

Dry road surfaces and normal travel speeds continue through Thursday night.

Icy and snow-packed road surfaces quickly return on Friday morning and continue through Friday night.

Very strong winds will also create blowing snow and hazardous driving conditions so I recommend getting to your destination early Friday morning and/or waiting until Friday afternoon to travel throughout the high country.

Trust me, you do not want to be traveling between roughly 6 AM and 12 PM on Friday.

Mostly dry road surfaces and normal travel speeds should prevail on Saturday and into Sunday, though light snow showers could bring wet and slick road surfaces later Saturday and into Sunday.

Another storm early next week will bring us more wet, icy, and snow-packed road surfaces. Plan for extra travel time Sunday night through Tuesday.

Mostly dry road surfaces and normal travel speeds should prevail from December 7 through at least December 9. We'll see how things develop as we get closer.

Extended Forecast

Monday - Tuesday

Looking ahead to next week, we'll be tracking a very healthy surge of moisture and storminess beginning on Sunday night. Monday and into Tuesday will be the days to watch for the heaviest snow, with fluffier snow on Tuesday as colder air and westerly winds take over.

You can still see the uncertainty in the ensemble snow forecast below, with each line representing a different possible outcome. An early idea would be for an additional 4-10 inches early next week.

Wednesday, December 7 & Beyond

After the series of storms that kicked off the month of December, we should receive dry weather beginning on Wednesday, December 7. We should see dry weather continue through Friday, December 9 before chances for snow return around December 10.

It will be very stormy to the west of Colorado so there will be a lot of details to work out as we get closer. Our snowpack should be sitting above average as we enter the middle of the month.

Thanks for reading and stay tuned for daily updates!

SAM COLLENTINE

About Our Forecaster

Sam Collentine

Meteorologist

Sam Collentine is the Chief Operating Officer of OpenSnow and lives in Basalt, Colorado. Before joining OpenSnow, he studied Atmospheric Science at the University of Colorado, spent time at Channel 7 News in Denver, and at the National Weather Service in Boulder.

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