More than 20 inches of additional snow could fall in some parts of Colorado, as another storm bears down on the state.
While Monday is expected to be dry (and extremely windy) statewide, Tuesday is expected to bring quite a bit of precipitation. Though the National Weather Service has yet to issue a winter weather warning (subject to change), some forecasters are calling for heavy snowfall to soon commence.
Joel Gratz of OpenSnow.com is calling for up to 10 inches in most mountainous areas of Colorado between Tuesday and Wednesday, with up to 20 inches in places to be hit the heaviest – favoring the central and northern peaks. A forecasting map featured with the report indicates that even higher totals – up to 25 inches – could fall in the Steamboat Springs area, with around 24 inches predicted to fall at the actual resort over the next five days, according to OpenSnow, and 30-plus inches expected in the next nine days, according to Snow-Forecast.com. See additional resort predictions and the forecasting map here.
Following the Tuesday to Wednesday dump, more snow could land on Thursday and another larger storm is expected to hit from Friday to Saturday.
Though current alerts issued by the National Weather Service seem to focus on the 60 to 70 mile per hour winds expected to hit parts of the state on Monday, the organization is also warning about difficult travel conditions soon to come throughout the rest of the week. According to the National Weather Service, an 'arctic cold front' is expected to hit come Thursday, dropping temperatures across much of Colorado.
As of February 5, the state of Colorado was at 81 percent of the to-date median snow water equivalent for the season, with most regions of the state lagging even further behind. Most recent data from February 2 indicates that 100 percent of the state is experiencing drought conditions. Many hope that an uptick in snow will relieve some of this dryness.
Recent snowfall has resulted in increased avalanche risk statewide, with much of Colorado under 'considerable' risk conditions – the third of five levels. Find current avalanche risk updates on the Colorado Avalanche Information Center website and always proceed with extreme caution when entering the backcountry in winter conditions.
