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    • Blizzard weather forecast for New Mexico, Colorado will hold up
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    Blizzard weather forecast for New Mexico, Colorado will hold up

    Vaseline Posted on

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    Heavy snow from a historic winter storm in parts of New Mexico and Colorado that left dozens of motorists stranded will continue at least until Friday evening, but warmer temperatures are on the way this weekend, forecasters say.

    By Friday morning, snowfall totals in some northeastern New Mexico counties, including Mora, San Miguel and Santa Fe, reached at least 9 inches, with another 4 to 8 inches expected throughout the day. In Rociada, 36 centimeters had fallen on Friday morning. The heaviest snowfall is also expected in Denver on Friday.

    More than 4.6 million people in the region were under winter storm warnings, and about 42,000 were under blizzard warnings on Friday. Tens of thousands of people were affected by power outages in New Mexico on Thursday as the storm brought heavy snow, and the National Weather Service in Albuquerque said more power outages were possible on Friday.

    In Colorado, Governor Jared Polis declared a state of emergency on Thursday and authorized the Colorado National Guard to respond to the storm. Many state government employees were also moved to remote work.

    New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham also issued two statewide emergency declarations to free up $1.5 million in state funding for storm response.

    “This is a very strong storm system in the Rockies for this time,” AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Scott Homan told USA TODAY.

    This is what the weekend looks like:

    Heavy snow will continue through late Friday and early Saturday

    Heavy snow at a rate of 1 to 2 inches per hour will continue for the rest of Friday in northeastern New Mexico and eastern Colorado, the National Weather Prediction Center said. The snowfall will slowly decrease from Saturday morning.

    Temperatures at higher elevations in northern New Mexico can drop into the single digits.

    Snowfall totals in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, Raton Mesa and nearby foothills are expected to be historic for this time of year at 10 to 4 feet by the end of Friday, after another 3 to 6 feet during the day fall.

    The Denver metro area and southern Colorado foothills are expected to get 3 to 14 inches of snow through Saturday morning, according to the weather service in Denver and Boulder.

    “It’s not out of the question that some of the highest elevations in southern Colorado might be 20 to 24 inches. So the mountains and ski areas love this weather,” Homan said.

    Hazardous travel conditions and road closures remain

    The commute on Friday and Saturday will be dangerous as some areas will be blanketed with a combination of heavy snow, high winds and fog. In Colorado’s eastern plains, across Akron, Kiowa, Limon and Hugo, the weather service said travel will be impossible for the rest of the day.

    “The combination of heavy snow and gusty winds will lead to blizzard conditions in some locations and create difficult to impossible travel conditions for the I-25 corridor and the Eastern Plains, where numerous roads in the area are already closed,” the National Weather Service said.

    “Areas of freezing fog are expected in the Northwest and Central Valleys, including the Albuquerque and Santa Fe metro areas,” the weather service in Albuquerque said. “Visibility can drop as much as a quarter mile at times by mid-morning.”

    Drivers should use low beam headlights and watch out for slippery ice on the roads.

    On Thursday, officials said about 100 motorists were stranded on highways 56, 412 and 87 during snowstorms.

    With higher temperatures this weekend, the snow will start to melt

    While heavy snow falls Saturday, the storm will hit the north and northeast and the Upper Plains, Homan said.

    Warmer temperatures in the upper 30s will return to Denver and surrounding areas on Saturday, he said. On Sunday, sunshine and temperatures reaching the mid-40s will begin to melt the impressive amounts of snow that fell during this storm.

    “It won’t be a dramatic melting effect, but the snow will start to melt a little as the sun helps with the warmer temperatures,” Homan said.

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