Snow is on the way for Colorado, Fort Collins: What we know about timing, snow totals

Miles Blumhardt, Fort Collins Coloradoan
Updated ·4 min read

Confidence is growing that a large swath of Colorado's northern foothills and mountains will see a foot to 2 feet of snow.

As of Tuesday morning, the snowfall forecast for Fort Collins has a wide range, according to the National Weather Service.

Here is a look at the storm expected to start impacting the state Wednesday, March 13, and continue into Thursday, March 14.

Editor's note: The below information is as of Tuesday. Find our latest updates on the storm in this live blog published Wednesday morning.

Here is the National Weather Service's confidence level for timing, snowfall amounts and travel impacts of Colorado storm

  • Timing: High confidence of heaviest snowfall starting Wednesday afternoon in the foothills and mountains. Rain changes to snow for the Denver area and adjacent plains Wednesday evening, diminishing by late Thursday night.

  • Snowfall amounts: Medium but growing confidence of 70% or higher chance of a foot or more of snow for most of the Front Range foothills and mountains. There's less confidence on totals for the lower elevations but increasing confidence for higher amounts, especially for the Interstate 25 corridor south of Fort Collins to metro Denver and Interstate 70 corridor from Limon to Denver and west into the foothills.

  • Travel impacts: High confidence of impacts on I-25 south of Fort Collins to Colorado Springs and Interstate 70 from Limon west to the Eisenhower Tunnel. There is a high likelihood for at least moderate impacts Thursday, especially for the morning commute.

Impressive snow totals forecast for Colorado foothills and mountains, with wide range forecast for Fort Collins

Here are snowfall ranges from the National Weather Service. Notice the wide range and sharp gradient.

Fort Collins and surrounding area:

  • Fort Collins: 1 to 10 inches forecast (5 inches expected).

  • Loveland: 1 to 12 inches forecast (5 inches expected).

  • Wellington: 1 to 10 inches forecast (5 inches expected).

  • Red Feather Lakes: 12 to 26 inches forecast (22 inches expected).

  • Windsor: 0 to 8 inches forecast (4 inches expected).

  • Greeley: 0 to 7 inches forecast (3 inches expected).

  • Estes Park: 5 to 17 inches forecast (13 inches expected).

  • Berthoud: 1 to 12 inches forecast (6 inches expected).

  • Cameron Pass: 12 to 30 inches forecast (23 inches expected).

  • Buckhorn Mountain: 11 to 27 inches forecast (21 inches expected).

  • Bear Lake (RMNP): 11 to 30 inches forecast (22 inches expected).

Denver and surrounding area

  • Denver: 3 to 14 inches forecast (9 inches expected).

  • Denver International Airport: 3 to 13 inches forecast (7 inches expected).

  • Boulder: 4 to 16 inches forecast (11 inches expected).

  • Longmont: 2 to 14 inches forecast (8 inches expected).

Mountains/ski areas

  • Eisenhower Tunnel: 11 to 23 inches forecast (19 inches expected).

  • Loveland Pass: 12 to 25 inches forecast (22 inches expected).

  • Berthoud Pass: 16 to 33 inches forecast (25 inches expected)

  • Vail Pass: 6 to 16 inches forecast (14 inches expected).

  • Winter Park: 15 to 28 inches forecast (25 inches expected).

  • Copper Mountain: 5 to 16 inches forecast (13 inches expected).

  • Keystone: 13 to 24 inches (21 inches expected).

  • Breckenridge: 8 to 20 inches (15 inches expected).

Fort Collins weather forecast calls for rain then snow

Here's the National Weather Service forecast for Fort Collins through the weekend:

  • Wednesday, March 13: 70% chance of rain before 7 a.m. then a chance of rain and snow until 10 a.m. with little to no snow accumulation. High near 49 degrees with a north wind 5 to 10 mph increasing to 15 to 20 mph in the afternoon and gusting to 31 mph.

  • Wednesday night: 90% chance of 1 to 3 inches of snow. Low around 29 with north wind 16 to 21 mph increasing to 23 to 28 mph after midnight and gusting to as high as 43 mph.

  • Thursday, March 14: 80% chance of snow with a high of 37 with north wind 26 to 31 mph decreasing to 18 to 23 mph in the afternoon but potential gusts of 47 mph. Chance of snow at night is 50% with a low around 23.

  • Friday, March 15: 20% chance of snow before noon. Partly sunny, with a high near 39 and low around 21.

  • Saturday, March 16: Mostly sunny, with a high near 48 and low around 24.

  • Sunday, March 17 (St. Patrick's Day): Mostly sunny, with a high near 48 and low around 23.

This article originally appeared on Fort Collins Coloradoan: Colorado weather forecast: When to expect storm, forecast snow totals