NWS: Accumulating snow most likely Wednesday during morning, evening commute

Light snowfall is falling across the Denver metro area Wednesday morning, meaning roads will likely stay snow-covered and icy for both the morning and evening commute.

The snow will continue for most of the area throughout the day. Cold arctic air will settle here, keeping afternoon highs in the mid-teens to mid-20s, according to the National Weather Service out of Boulder.

Temperatures Wednesday morning will stay below freezing but will continue to dip throughout the day, hovering in the single digits by the afternoon. By the end of the day, wind chills will likely be below zero degrees.

Snow totals: 3-5 inches in Denver by end of Wednesday

The NWS said the most likely times for accumulating snow is the commute hours in the beginning and end of the day. Check your commute using Denver7's 24/7 traffic radar.

The snow will end around this time, but the bitter cold will hang on into Thursday, with wind chills as low as -4 in Denver and -27 in Julesburg.

This storm has pushed the NWS to issue multiple warnings and advisory across the entire state.

A winter storm warning is in effect for much of the day for several areas.

NWS

That warning will last until 8 p.m. for Larimer County, Weld County, Boulder County, Jefferson County, Douglas County, Adams County, Arapahoe County, and Broomfield County, where wind chills could dip as low as 20 or 30 degrees below zero.

These low temperatures will put a wind chill advisory in effect from Wednesday night into Thursday morning. (A wind chill advisory is issued when low temperatures and wind combine to create a wind chill temperature of at least -18 degrees.)

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The winter storm warning is also impacting Rocky Mountain National Park and the Medicine Bow Range, which could see 3 to 9 inches of new snow and wind gusts as strong as 40 mph. This warning expires at 5 a.m. Thursday.

A winter weather advisory is in effect until 8 p.m. Wednesday for the northeast counties of the state. After that one ends, a wind chill advisory is in effect until 9 a.m. Thursday.

Another wind chill advisory will impact the central eastern plains — around Agate, Limon, and Hugo — starting at midnight and lasting through 9 a.m. Thursday. This area will likely have the coldest values in the state.

Winter weather advisories are also affecting parts of the state.

This advisory will last until 8 p.m. for the southern Front Range and foothills. It will last until 6 a.m. Thursday for Summit County.

It will also last until 8 p.m. for areas on the eastern plains, including Greeley, Fort Morgan, Sterling, Julesburg, and Holyoke.

Looking to the mountains, avalanche danger is high — rated as 4 out of 5 — for parts of the state. Large avalanches will be easy to trigger across the Park Range, San Jan, La Plata, Rico, and Needle mountain ranges, prompting an avalanche warning. Traveling in the backcountry is not recommended, according to the Colorado Avalanche Information Center.

A high wind warning is also impacting the Sangre de Cristo Mountain Range, the Wet Mountains, the Wet Mountain Valley and the San Luis Valley from 11 a.m. Wednesday through 7 p.m. Gusts may reach 65 mph, and even up to 85 mph in places.

The NWS in Boulder said expected totals may be on the low end, however a few snow bands along Interstate 25 may keep that number closer to what was expected.

Snow will increase Wednesday morning along the foothills and Interstate 25.

By tonight, Denver will likely have 3 to 4 inches of new snow. That's about the same in Castle Rock and in the far northeast in Julesburg. The rest of the easter plains will see 1 to 2 inches, or less than an inch of snowfall.

Snow accumulation increases the farther north you go. Boulder and Fort Collins will see 4 to 6 inches, and Estes Park will see 6-8 inches.

Below, you can see the low and high estimations for snowfall around central Colorado.

NWS

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