A significant winter storm is expected to bring heavy snow and impact travel in the Southern Rockies and Four Corners region Thursday night.
Over a foot of snow is expected across the Front Range, Sangre de Cristo, and San Juan mountain ranges, according to the National Weather Service. There’s also a 20 to 30% chance of 2-4 feet of snow occurring locally.
Wind gusts exceeding 35 mph will blow snow and severely restrict visibility making travel conditions difficult to impossible, forecasters warned. Road closures, power outages and disruptions to infrastructure are all possible, especially along roads such as the I-25 urban corridor in the region.
Around 8 inches of snow are likely north of the Mogollon Rim and toward the the San Juans and southern Colorado Rockies. Above a foot of snow is possible in higher terrain areas, the service reported. Rain will also fall on the Southwest and Southern Rockies.
Denver has opened severe weather shelters and warming centers from Wednesday to Saturday due to the extreme weather, KDVR-TV reported.
Thursday also marks three years since Denver’s last official double-digit snowstorm, according to a 9NEWS Weather report, when 19.9 inches of snow fell in the city’s snowiest March day on record.
Colorado weather map
Lighting, hail and tornadoes possible along Central Plains
Downpours and severe thunderstorms are forecast to reach the Southern Plains and lower Mississippi Valley on Thursday, the weather service reported. Showers and thunderstorms will eventually expand to the Great Lakes.
Frequent lightning, wind gusts, more than an inch of hail and a few tornadoes are among the possible hazards.
Heavy rain will also cause areas of flash flooding in urban areas, roads and small streams in these regions as well as the Tennessee Valley.
The threat of severe thunderstorms will decrease here by Friday before heading into the Northeast, according to the weather service. By then Northern New England and New York State will face rain, while the higher elevations could see snow.
US weather watches and warnings
National weather radar
Contributing: Doyle Rice