A good amount of snow, wind and potential whiteout conditions predicted for Wednesday
The warm before the storm
Ray K. Erku/Post Independent
Glenwood Springs is expected to see a pretty significant winter storm that was forecast to pick up late Tuesday and slow down Wednesday night, but not end until Thursday morning.
“We’re looking at a pretty strong system with lots of wind,” said Mark Miller, meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Grand Junction.
A winter storm was forecasted to move in Tuesday night, with heavier snowfall and wind into the day Wednesday. Then, hopefully, the storm should slow into the evening during average commute times.
“For the most part, it should be kind of more of the middle of the day, so it should be outside of the traditional heavier commute times,” Miller said.
There also could be some near whiteout conditions throughout Garfield County midday Wednesday, he said.
“If you’re doing any kind of traveling during the day tomorrow, certainly be aware and know before you head out that there could be some rapidly changing conditions from one moment to the next,” Miller said.
Miller predicted that Glenwood Springs could see 2 to 6 inches of snow, while western Garfield County will only see a couple inches.
“The snow will be enough to be impactful, but really, it’s going to be the winds,” Miller said. “I think they’re going to be causing a lot of problems, especially as you go up into the mountains.”
The Interstate 70 corridor will have some impacts, but he said it should be manageable for the most part. The higher elevations, especially the mountain passes, will receive the most snowfall and wind gusts.
“Once you kind of get into higher elevation, especially in the mountain passes, that’s when things kind of go downhill pretty quickly,” Miller said.
Meanwhile, Sunlight Mountain Resort and other nearby ski areas should get some powder, with six inches predicted for Sunlight on OpenSnow.com and possibly up to a foot of snow predicted by the National Weather Service for the central mountains over the next few days.
Any travel over mountain passes will be especially difficult, if not impossible at times, the National Weather Services stated.
Post Independent reporter Cassandra Ballard can be reached at cballard@postindependent.com or 970-384-9131.
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