Who’s ready for Round 2 this week with the Snow Miser? And this storm is forecast to pack a more powerful punch than the one that dropped nearly a foot of snow atop Aspen Mountain and Snowmass earlier this week.
The next major snowstorm is forecast to roll into Colorado by late Thursday evening, according to the National Weather Service, and last into Saturday night.
A winter weather advisory has been issued from 5 a.m. Friday until 11 p.m. Saturday for most of the Colorado mountains, including the Aspen and Snowmass area. NWS forecasters are predicting “total snow accumulations of 8 to 12 inches with locally higher amounts up to 18 inches (and) winds gusting as high as 40 to 50 mph.”
The storm is expected to hit eastern Utah and western Colorado by Thursday evening and in some areas again will cause major travel issues. The storm earlier this week closed down Interstate 70 and was the cause of a fatal crash near Vail.
“Over any of the high mountain passes travel may not be possible during this storm. Over all the mountains 12 to 24 inches of snow may accumulate, while portions of the San Juan, La Sal, Abajo and Uinta mountains may receive 40 or more inches of snow by Saturday afternoon,” according to the National Weather Service outlook. “There will be a rain and snow mix in the valleys through Friday, changing to snow Friday night.”
Parts of southwestern Colorado are under a winter storm warning into the weekend.
The Colorado Avalanche Information Center lists the avalanche danger in the Aspen region as considerable (level 3 of 5) going into Thursday. That likely will change for the weekend with the snow and high winds.
For those traveling through the Aspen airport, they can check their flight status at aspenairport.com or contact their carriers.
Because of the storm earlier this week, Aspen Skiing Co. was able to open more terrain at Aspen Mountain and Snowmass. The resorts picked up 25 inches of snow in a seven-day period and as of Thanksgiving Day combined had nearly 1,000 acres of terrain open.