A major winter storm begins tonight. The
Grand Junction Forecast Discussion has the details. Today is not really the calm before, because ridge top winds will be strong and gusty. Ridge top and down slope winds will be very strong over and east of the Front Range, Sawatch, and Sangre de Cristo ranges. Temperatures will be relatively mild, and skies mostly to partly cloudy. The action begins after midnight as an arctic cold front moves south from Wyoming. With good jet support, cold air advection, and abundant Pacific moisture, snowfall will be heavy to intense along the cold front. The front reaches the I-70 corridor Tuesday morning and stalls for a while, which adds uncertainity to the forecast and will change the snowfall amounts and locations quite a bit on Tuesday. It begins the southward march Tuesday afternoon, bringing the intense snowfall to the Central Mountains late Tuesday and into Wednesday morning. This period should have the heaviest snowfall statewide. By Wednesday, upper level flow turns southwesterly as the trough deepens. That shifts the focus of the most intense snowfall to the San Juan Mountains. The trough deepens and begins to shift east Wednesday night. Snowfall will decrease, but continues through Thursday. A COLD arctic airmass moves in as the trough shifts east, and weekend temperatures will be bitter.
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