Midweek storm to spread snow across southern Rockies

After a relatively quiet first three weeks of February in terms of significant snow events for residents outside the highest elevations of the southern Rockies, a more potent storm looks to take shape around midweek.

A cold front dug eastward across the Plains and southward through the southern Rockies on Tuesday night, and colder conditions are following in its wake.

Leftover energy from a storm that brought heavy rain and avalanche danger to parts of the Pacific Northwest to begin the week, and an influx of moisture, dove southward on Wednesday. This energy and moisture met up with the cool conditions in place across the southern Rockies Wednesday night and Thursday and is bringing snow to parts of the region.

Snow first overspread the Wasatch Range of Utah by Wednesday evening before blanketing portions of Wyoming and Colorado overnight and parts of New Mexico and Arizona by early Thursday morning.

In Utah, places like Salt Lake City and Provo may miss out on any accumulating snow while totals pile up over the mountains east of each city. A general 1-3 inches of snow is expected across the Wasatch, with higher amounts of 3-6 inches likely to be confined to the northernmost portion of the range.

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A more robust amount of snow is expected to target much of Colorado through Thursday. While 1-3 inches can blanket many of the lower elevations of Colorado through Thursday, many populous cities including Colorado Springs and Pueblo may receive a quick 3-6 inches of snow. The Mile High City of Denver could get 6-10 inches of snow. However, snowfall totals in excess of 6 inches and up to an AccuWeather Local StormMax™ of 24 inches from this event will largely be confined to the highest elevations.

Since the bulk of the snow arrived overnight Wednesday, the Thursday morning commute may prove challenging for some residents. Travel disruptions across portions of interstates 70, 80 and 25 are possible as a result of snow and gusty winds brought on by this storm.

Unseasonably cold air and a lack of available moisture have led to a lull in significant snow events in February for the cities surrounding the Rockies, especially in parts of Colorado and Wyoming.

This lull in snowfall is not at all uncommon for these areas at this time of year. Although January and February are the last two months of meteorological winter, neither of these months is actually the snowiest month of the year for cities like Denver.

"During the middle of winter in January into early February, the mean jet stream or 'storm track' tends to set up south of places like Denver," AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Dan Pydynowski said. "Also at this time, average temperatures are at their coldest along the Front Range and cold air holds less moisture than warmer air."

Unseasonably cold air has been trapped on the eastern side of the Rocky Mountains and has been unable to filter, to a great extent, across to the west.

Cities like Denver and Colorado Springs, Colorado, are currently running an average of 6 to 7 degrees Fahrenheit below normal for the month of February. Farther north in places like Great Falls and Billings, Montana, the departures from average are even more drastic, with 17.1 degrees below and 15.5 degrees below average, respectively as of Wednesday.

The western side of the Rocky Mountains holds a completely different story. Places like Salt Lake City and Provo, Utah, are currently running 3.6 degrees and 3.5 degrees above average, respectively.

"By the time late February and early March roll around, there is more moisture available to work with in the atmosphere and the mean storm track returns northward once again," Pydynowski explained. "Even though temperatures are rising, March is typically the snowiest month of the year for places like Denver, due to the increased availability of moisture."

Denver averages just over 7.5 inches of snow for the month of February, while in March, the city receives just under a foot of snow on average. With only a few days remaining, the city's month-to-date snow total for February stands at 9.8 inches.

After snow from the midweek storm winds down across much of the southern Rockies by Thursday evening, scattered opportunities for the odd snow shower will remain in the forecast, largely for mountain areas, through the weekend.

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