Slushy snow, rain and severe thunderstorm potential all ahead for Saturday
(COLORADO SPRINGS) — One storm system is bringing all sorts of active and severe weather to Southern Colorado for Saturday. You can expect rain, thunderstorms, slushy snow, difficult mountain travel, and even severe thunderstorms.
A low pressure system from the west will be moving over Southern Colorado on Saturday. That’s what brought thunderstorms overnight to our area, and mountain snow. The center of it will land over the Pikes Peak region on Saturday and as it moves in that direction, it will eject cold air from the higher levels of the atmosphere and provide lift to create slushy snow.
It is expected that snow will get heavy at times and some places could get 2 to 3 inches in an hour through the morning and early afternoon hours. With these high snowfall rates and slushy conditions, there is the potential for travel to become very hazardous as visibility will be poor. This storm will interact with terrain so that means snow totals will vary based on your location. It is worth noting that (based on how warm roads are) for the most part snow isn’t expected to accumulate on the roads for the lower elevations. However, mountain travel will become quite hazardous as they are expecting several feet of snow in some spots.
As for our Southeastern Plains and Foothills, we are expecting the risk of severe thunderstorms later today for some. Thunderstorms will continue on and off for the rest of the day for our region, however, some of those storms are expected to have more energy which means there will be a high risk that some of those storms will produce large hail, damaging winds, and the potential for a weak tornado or two. The severe risk map is below. Remember if there is a tornado warning in your area to find the lowest level of your home and find an interior room (with no windows if possible) for shelter.
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