Colorado's Upcoming Severe Windstorm and Snow Forecast

Tomorrow's windstorm in Colorado could bring gusts up to 90 mph, posing serious risks and potential power outages.

### Severe Wind Storm and Snowfall Forecast for Colorado
* 🌬 Tomorrow is expected to bring a **significant wind storm** across Colorado, with gusts potentially reaching **90 miles per hour**, particularly in the western areas like the **San Juans** and along the **Continental Divide**.
* ❄ Winter storm warnings indicate that southwestern Colorado could see **up to 16 inches of snowfall**, although strong winds may hinder **accurate measurement and visibility**.
* ⚠ High avalanche risks are anticipated in southwest Colorado, making it unsafe for backcountry skiing due to **dangerous conditions and poor visibility** from wind and snow.
* 💨 The strongest winds are forecasted to occur from late morning to mid-afternoon, particularly affecting Denver and the urban corridor, where wind gusts will be at their **peak between 10 AM and 4 PM**.
* 🔥 Southeastern Colorado faces **exceptionally high fire danger**, compounded by strong winds, which may lead to **hazardous conditions and potential for brush fires**.
* 🌨 Despite a below-average winter thus far, with only **0.3 inches of snowfall** recorded in Denver, this storm could help improve snowpack levels to approximately **80-85% of normal**.
* 📱 Residents are advised to **secure outdoor items** and prepare for possible power outages by **charging devices** in anticipation of the severe weather impacts.
* 🚗 Travel is expected to be hazardous, especially in the mountains where **heavy snowfall and strong winds** will create **treacherous conditions**, urging caution for anyone planning to drive.

[Music] hey everybody, happy Tuesday. Thanks for joining us here on 9 News Watch for a detailed look at your Colorado weather forecast. Meteorologist Chris Bianchi, all eyes on that big wind storm for your day tomorrow. I'll have more on that in the next few months, but kind of start things off this nice view. I like this one from the Rocky Mountain National Park Alpine Visitor Center. You got that snow. We're going to be adding a little bit of snow to this shot once we get into tomorrow morning. We'll see a little bit of snow up this way, nothing too crazy in our northern mountains. The southern part of the state though, we're going to see some pretty decent snow out there. Now the story at least right now, couple things. One, it's really kind of on the dry side and two, it's certainly on the warm side. Look at this for you, Denver 66 degrees on December the 14th. Our average high for today 44. So we're just four degrees off of

our record high in Denver. I don't think we're going to get quite there. I don't think so. Our record high for today, 70 degrees, that was set back in 2010. Don't think we get quite there, but you know what, this is as of noon, so we may add another degree or two to that. 66 eastern plains, our friends out here, Burlington 63, Ray at 54, Sterling still a little bit on the cool side, still got some low cloudiness up that way, so 43 degrees for friends in the northeastern corner up I-76 out there. Forecast for Denver, yeah, sorry, well, we'll admit it, didn't quite get there. It was 61 was the forecast highway to obviously be above that. 74 for us in Lamar though, 62 Trinidad and 68 out into Akron. All right, that is the current, and today is a calm day, but tomorrow, and I really want to emphasize this here folks, tomorrow's the big day weather-wise. I'll step back.

down for a quick second, but I really want to kind of look at you and emphasize that this is not going to be just an average blustery day for your day tomorrow. This is the time of year that we expect wind in Colorado; it's our windy time of year. And so, for us to get wind is not that unusual, but what we're looking at tomorrow, we could be looking at our strongest windstorm in a couple of years here, folks. So, this is a pretty real deal sort of situation. And I know, uh, you've got all those holiday ornaments out there. We've got some lights at our house, my fiancé and I. We got, we got, uh, lights. We've even got a couple of things outside, folks. Bring that inside. I did on my fiancé this morning. We brought inside, well, she came inside, but we brought inside our patio furniture. We brought inside all those kind of loose objects outside and brought those in because tomorrow, again, we're going to be talking about a

very serious wind threat for us in and around the front range, especially the western half of the urban corridor, and then also the southeastern corner of Colorado is going to be looking at exceptionally strong winds and also very high fire danger out that way. And I know we got that brush fire already burning in Douglas County, so that may be, unfortunately, the tip of the iceberg with this storm. Very high fire danger in southeastern Colorado. Um, we're going to be looking, I think, in that part of the state, in southeastern Colorado, uh, so La Junta, uh, Springfield, Lamar, uh, that we could be looking at our strongest winds we've seen here in 5-10 years. So just keep that in mind and tie down those loose outdoor objects. Obviously, bring those inside, and I'm going to have a few more tips for you in just a second. But let's kind of start things out by taking a look at the actual forecast. We have a high wind warning for the entire eastern half of the state of Colorado. So this is

really kind of from the continental divide on east. We've got that high wind warning that includes us in Denver, Fort Collins, Colorado Springs, and in Pueblo. And also, by the way, for South Park, I think we're - I would probably not plan on being able to drive there on Fair Play and 285 for tomorrow, especially during the morning hours. Also, Highway 24 there, west Colorado Springs, Woodland Park, and on south into the St. Louise Valley. Those winds will be very, very strong for your day tomorrow, with some gusts up to 90 miles an hour, folks. A couple spots probably clock in at 100. Those usual really, really windy spots, but those winds are going to be absolutely ripping tomorrow, so just prepare for now. Again, not just a blustery day. This is going to be - I know we've had a lot of wind so far this fall. This is going to be stronger than any of those days we've seen so far this fall. And I'm not trying to scare anything like that. I just want you

to be aware of it. Another thing, this is a little anecdotal, this is a slight aside, is I feel that wind doesn't get the attention that say if this was six to 12 inches of snow or two to three inches worth of rain, really strong storms. A lot of people would be like whoa, that's a big deal, right? In my opinion, this doesn't get the attention or the hype, not hype, let's just say there's a bit of a less of a sexy factor to strong winds than there is to say snow or to strong rain, right, to heavy rain or thunderstorms. So, take this seriously is my point. Again, I know it's not quite as sexy as a snowstorm or as a really strong thunderstorm threat or a flood threat or anything like that. This is the real deal here, folks. Please pay attention. These winds, you'll notice them, you'll be hopefully thanking me tomorrow when you're saying whoa, whoa, whoa, those winds are really, really strong. Yeah, it's gonna

be that kind of day as we get into your midday hours or so tomorrow. Let's kind of time this out for you as well and kind of detail when you can expect those really strong winds. Southwest Colorado for friends in the San Juans, the San Luis Valley, even on north into the Gunnison Valley. I think those winds will be pretty strong and at their strongest tomorrow morning. Rest of the state and that entire high wind warning, Continental Divide on east. The strongest winds will be probably late morning throughout mid-afternoon. So we're talking 9, 10 a.m. until about 3 or 4 o'clock is when those strongest winds will be in place for us in Denver. The southeastern corner of Colorado, maybe a kick earlier in southeastern Colorado, but Denver and the western side of the urban corridor, those winds will be strongest for us probably from about 10 to about 4 or so tomorrow. Southeastern Colorado, 9-3, 9-4 kind of deal for us. So maybe a take

earlier in southeast Colorado, Denver, and again the west side of the metro area probably a little bit later than that, but those winds will be howling out there by four o'clock tomorrow. A bit of good news with this is that these winds will last five, six hours at their strongest, but the, I guess, bit of good news is the system's pretty fast-moving, so it's going to kind of zip on out of here pretty quickly, and by the time the sun sets tomorrow, those worst winds should be over and done with. So by six, six o'clock tomorrow, most of us should be done with the worst of the winds. So it's a fairly quick thing, but it's a real thing. I mean, take a look at these winds as we get into noon tomorrow. I mean, folks, look at that in Denver, even downtown. We're talking about those winds potentially in the 60 to 70 mile an hour range. Arvada, Golden, Evergreen, Boulder, Longmont, 70 plus amount in our winds, and folks, this is probably the very kind of

front end, uh, front end of those strong winds. Probably, they'll max out somewhere around one, two, three o'clock tomorrow afternoon. So, those winds howling out there, um, already about noon tomorrow, and then by again five o'clock tomorrow. Notice those winds still kind of cranking into the foothills. Um, again, I think one, two, three o'clock, that's when we'll see those winds potentially getting into the 80 to 90 mile an hour range, especially just to the west of Denver. So, again, just trying to emphasize the fact that these winds will be very strong. By the way, Thursday, we'll keep the high fire danger around, but those winds won't be nearly as bad as what we're expecting for your day tomorrow. So, a couple things to keep in mind. How do you prepare for strong winds? I've been right blabbing for a little while now about how the winds will be really strong. You get it, right? So, what do you do? So, you bring inside those holiday ornaments. I know that is devastating for the inflatable Santa.

that you love. You don't want to take that down. It probably took you two to three hours on a Sunday afternoon to put up inflatable Santa. Bring inside inflatable Santa unless you want Santa to be about 50 miles east of us now. Don't drive a high-profile vehicle for your day tomorrow either. That would be uh fairly obvious. Those kind of I keep forgetting the word because my best friend actually is one of those huge camper vans. Those uh I forget the word for them but those uh big vans that uh are kind of in right now but don't don't drive those around. Don't drive those huge high-profile vehicles. You don't those could easily get blown on over semis. Obviously will not be a good idea tomorrow especially the west side of the metro area. And by the way I'd anticipate some road closures because of these strong winds. Unfortunately that possibility for overturned semis because those winds will be so strong. And then finally charge those phones in case you lose power again. Boulder, Arvada, Golden, I'm really

Looking at you, that's where those winds will be really on the strong side, and those power outages will be more than isolated. They'll probably be fairly widespread if those winds do pan out to be in the 80 to 90 mile an hour range. So again, Boulder, Golden, Arvada, Evergreen, that's where you're going to be looking at those winds really just cranking on up, and that's where again you've got that highest risk for power outages. So charge up those phones in case you do lose power, and in fact, I know that Ebola County Emergency Management already preparing for that possibility for some power outages for your day tomorrow as well. So just emphasizing that. Now, I haven't mentioned this at all yet, there is the chance for a rain and snow shower early in the morning for your day tomorrow in Denver. Those winds will be the story though, again, I'm trying to overlook the rain in the snow a little bit intentionally. I want to drum across to you and get the whole

It's going to be really windy. Thing across to you first and then get into the rain and snow chances, but um, it won't be a big deal for us in Denver. The rain, snow, don't worry about it too much. The story's the wind. Temperature's up to about 50 degrees. Probably won't notice it because it could be so darn windy. So don't pay attention to the wind or the rain or snow or the temperature. The story will be the wind, uh, no doubt about it. Now, western Colorado, this is good news. This is the part of the state, well, the entire state needs moisture, and we're gonna get a pretty meaningful amount of rain and snow into parts of central and western Colorado. Rain only really for those lowest elevations, so Grand Junction, the western slope, uh, maybe at the valley floor there in gusting a little bit of light rain or something, but for most of us here, we're going to be looking in that teal shading, a little bit less of that snowfall, but in the red, that's

where we got those winter storm warnings. That's where the San Juans could be potentially looking at as much as 16 inches worth of snowfall from the storm system. So, that's great news. It's going to be wind-whipped. You probably won't be able to measure it all that well, but we're going to get some meaningful snowfall into parts of the state that need it. And by the way, there will be a high avalanche risk for us into especially southwest Colorado for your day tomorrow. So, backcountry skiers, tomorrow's not the day to go out there because it's going to be pretty nasty, and you probably do you really want to be out there if it's 70 mile-an-hour winds and you just can't see anything? I don't think so, but can't ever rule that out. Meantime, early tomorrow morning, western kind of third of the state, so the western San Juans, really the West Elks, on east here into the Swatch Mountains, the even the Wet Mountains, and the Santa

Cristo seeing some of that snowfall on up into the I-70 mount, seeing a little bit of that snow. You kind of see yours more a little later into the day. Another thing to point out with the snow as well, it's going to be fairly short-lived. I mentioned earlier on this is going to be a fast-moving storm system, so that snow is going to be coming down. It's a pretty intense storm system though as well. San Francisco saw three inches of rain from this yesterday, the same storm system, so it's a pretty intense one. Point being that snow is going to be coming down fast and furiously at times. So if you have plans, for example, to use Monarch Pass, Red Mountain Pass, um, again those areas here into southwestern Colorado, that travel especially pre-dawn tomorrow is going to be absolutely uh nasty. It's going to be nearly impossible because you've got those strong winds and you've got that heavy snow. That snow will be coming down two to three inches an hour at times for us in southwestern

colorado that pushes east pretty quickly again fast-moving system by 11:30. Look at this, we just got a few leftover snow squalls in place, but tomorrow midday late morning that snow will be heavy at times. You head west of Denver on I-70, so Eisenhower Tunnel, they'll pass even on up by Birthday Pass and Rabbit Ears could be a little bit on the tricky side on Highway 40 as well as I-70 for your day tomorrow. Then a little weak system arrives for your Friday, a bit more snow from that, but no big deal from that secondary system. All eyes here on the first one where we could see some pretty decent snowfall totals in southwestern Colorado in particular. Then that secondary system leaves a bit more snow, so some fresh powder. We need the snowpack, we're putting a dent into some of those snowpack deficits across the state, so good news on that end. The bad news, obviously, all eyes on the wind. It is going to be nasty. It's going to be

bad. I think I've emphasized that enough, so um hopefully that's, that's, I've gotten the point across to you at this point. And I do apologize for the uh rambling on that part, but I just really want to make sure that you know about that. In the meantime, that seven-day forecast looks like this. We are going to be looking at quite a bit in the way of that snowfall and so alright, quite a bit in the way of that wind. So hopefully that gets that across. So I'm going to go through some of your comments here. By the way, I'm always happy to take those for you. And Dexter has a good one. Appreciate this question. How do you think our winter is going to be? The season above normal, below normal, based on the current situations this far. Appreciate that question, by the way. Thanks for watching. Thanks to all of you, including Chris and Kate, for um emphasizing this or for uh writing in again. Just really want to emphasize the point that this is a

really bad wind event for your day tomorrow. Just prepare for it. Hopefully, hopefully I'm wrong. Hopefully it's not as bad. Hopefully we're talking 60-70 mile an hour winds. It's really windy, but it's not destructive. We're not talking about power outages or widespread things. But unfortunately, I do think it's going to be as bad as what I was just saying. So again, I hope I hope I thread that needle, not completely scaring you, but also alerting you to that fact. So to answer your question here, Dexter, about the upcoming winter and what we're expecting. Well, we've only seen .3 inches worth of snowfall so far this winter here in Denver statewide, or about three quarters, about 75 percent of our season-to-date snowpack. So we do need the snow. I would say that this storm system now should get us into the 80-85 percent of normal range. It's hard to really project too far beyond that, but the traditional things that we're looking at, La Niña.

coupled with what we've seen so far this winter, a couple of the facts that's been really warm tells us that more likely than not, we are going to be looking at a below-normal winter in terms of snowfall and also a warmer-than-average winter. That's a general trend, and probably that trend will be a bit more likely to take place in southern Colorado. Normally, in a La Niña winter, the northern mountains do pretty okay, so say the Medicine Bow Range, the Parks, the Elkhead Mountains. Those mountains tend to do fairly okay, you know, 80, 90, maybe even 100% of average. But normally, it's the southern mountains that tend to suffer the most when we have a La Niña winter. Now, there's exceptions to that rule. We've had La Niña winters. We've seen a lot of snow in southern Colorado. We've had La Niña winters where Denver's seen a lot of snow because we're talking about specific places. We look at this as a broad brush trend.

that also by the way you know even if we have a below-average winter you know in Denver we can still get a major snowstorm. We could have a foot snowstorm in February or March or April during our peak snowy months here in the Denver area. We can still see a foot, 16 inches, 18 inches of snow. Denver, we average almost 60 inches of snow in a winter. So um, you can have a couple of foot-plus snowstorms in there and still have a below-average winter. So that doesn't you know, hopefully you don't remember this and say hey Chris, you know say February, March we're gonna get a foot of snow and you go hey Chris, uh I thought you said this is gonna be a below-average winter. Yeah, we can still have a below-average winter. We can also still have snowstorms in there. So don't necessarily think that because we haven't seen anything so far this winter which is very very unusual, that doesn't mean we're not going to see any sort of

winter here in Denver or throughout the state. That still is possible, but hopefully that explains your question there, Dexter. It does, unfortunately, trend drier and not as great as usual, so that hopefully answers your question for you. And by the way, thanks for joining in. Hopefully, I have emphasized that wind threat for you for your day tomorrow. Take care, have a good one, and we'll see you coming up at 9 news at 4. [Music] [Music] you

Extended Colorado weather forecast for December 14

9NEWS

Severe Wind Threat and Fire Danger in Colorado

Colorado is facing exceptionally strong winds and high fire danger, particularly in the western half of the urban corridor and southeastern Colorado.

The area, including La Junta, Springfield, and Lamar, may experience the strongest winds seen in 5-10 years.

A high wind warning is in effect for the eastern half of the state, with potential road closures and overturned vehicles due to the severe winds.

Severe Wind and Snowstorm Impacting Colorado

A high wind warning is in effect for Denver, Fort Collins, Colorado Springs, and Pueblo, with gusts expected up to 100 mph.

The storm system will bring intense snowfall to southwestern Colorado, with 2-3 inches of snow per hour at times.

Travel conditions, especially on Monarch Pass and Red Mountain Pass, will be dangerous due to strong winds and heavy snow.

Strong winds are often overlooked compared to snow or heavy rain, but they can cause significant disruptions.

Denver is experiencing warm temperatures, but the real weather threat is expected tomorrow with winds potentially reaching 80 to 90 mph.

This could lead to widespread power outages, so it's important to prepare and charge devices in advance.

Strong Winds and Minimal Precipitation in Colorado

Colorado is expecting very strong winds, with gusts reaching 80 to 90 mph, particularly west of Denver.

The state will also receive some rain and snow, mainly in central and western Colorado, but the precipitation will not be significant.

The strong winds are expected to last for about five to six hours, with the worst of it ending by sunset.

This winter is expected to be below normal in snowfall and warmer than average, particularly in southern Colorado.

La Niña winters typically bring more snow to the northern mountains, while the southern mountains tend to suffer.

The current snowfall in Denver is only 0.

3 inches, but the upcoming storm system may increase the snowpack to 80-85% of normal.

Colorado is expecting a winter storm with up to 16 inches of snowfall in the San Juans, accompanied by strong winds and a high avalanche risk.

The state is experiencing its windiest time of year, with the strongest windstorm in a couple of years predicted for tomorrow.

Wind gusts will be strongest from late morning to mid-afternoon, particularly impacting Denver and the western urban corridor.