Local meteorologists have upgraded their forecast for a powerful winter storm and now include the entire Front Range and northeast Colorado in a blizzard warning — and predict the mountains could get up to 20 inches of snow. The forecast for snow in Denver has also increased to between 6 and 9 inches, said Natalie Sullivan, meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Boulder. “(The) powerful winter storm system will bring the combination of strong winds and periods of heavy snow to the northeast planes, Front Range and northern and central mountains,” the NWS said in the bulletin. New highlights ahead of potent winter storm. Prepare for heavy snow, blowing snow, low visibilities, and potential power outages. #COwx pic.twitter.com/IAlHJeKZZA — NWS Boulder (@NWSBoulder) March 12, 2019 The weather service issued a blizzard warning beginning at 10 a.m. Wednesday until noon on Thursday for Denver. The weather service warns that driving will be treacherous during the storm. “Travel will be very difficult. Widespread blowing snow will reduce visibility to near zero at times. The hazardous conditions will impact the evening commute. Very strong winds could cause extensive tree damage,” the NWS warns. “Do not travel. If you must travel, have a winter survival kit with you. If you get stranded, stay with your vehicle.” The mountains could get between 11 and 20 inches of new snow and the foothills could get between 6 to 12 inches of snow, Sullivan said. Temperatures will initially be warm under sunny skies on Tuesday with a high of around 62 degrees. Rain could begin to fall after 4 p.m. Tuesday. Rain showers are expected mostly after 9 p.m., according to the National Weather Service in Boulder. There’s a 90 percent chance of rain. Temperatures will drop to about 36 degrees Tuesday night. On Wednesday, rain is expected until around 11 a.m. By noon, the rain will turn to snow. “The snow could be heavy at times,” the weather service says. The temperature will fall to around 25 degrees by 4 p.m. It will be very windy with sustained northerly winds rising to 27 to 37 mph. Wind gusts could reach 60 mph. There’s a 100 percent chance of snow, with between 4 and 8 inches of snow expected to fall during the day and another inch of snow Wednesday night. Blowing snow will be a travel hazard Thursday morning as wind gusts up to 39 mph are expected, the NWS says. Friday will be sunny with a high temperature of around 40 degrees. Temperatures will climb to 45 on Saturday and 48 on Sunday, the NWS says. By Monday, the high could reach 51 degrees.<doc-sep>The blizzard warning for Colorado and beyond has been extended in some areas. Blizzard conditions are expected for pretty much all of northeastern Colorado on Wednesday - with poor conditions beginning at 10 a.m., according to the National Weather Service. As of 11:30 a.m., the majority of law enforcement organizations in northeastern Colorado are begging residents to stay off roads and hunker in their homes. The National Weather Service reported an 80 mph wind gust at Denver International Airport - as strong as a Category 1 hurricane (winds 74 mph to 95 mph). Whiteout conditions are covering roads from Commerce City to Nebraska, Wellington to Wyoming and AirPark to Kansas - I-25 has been shut down from Colorado Springs to Castle Rock. From Routt County to Kit Carson, the metro area to our border with Nebraska, a quarter of the state is under a blizzard warning that is just hammering towns. Stop lights at several suburban towns - Aurora and Parker specifically - are reportedly filling up with snow. Many are out from lack of power, as over 75,000 people are without power in the state. After the 50-degree day in Denver on Monday - with people walking their dogs in flip flops, carefree driving with the windows down - the city and much of the state will see continually deteriorating conditions throughout the day into the evening hours. Snow is coming down sideways - while it is not very heavy in most spots, the wind is making conditions much worse. Rain slowly changed to snow along the Front Range this morning and spread east to the edge of the plains. Interstates throughout northeastern Colorado are down; Interstate 25 from Douglas County to Colorado Springs, Wellington to the Wyoming border. I-70 and U.S. 36 are shut down from AirPark to Kansas. Interstate 76 is shut down from Commerce City to Nebraska. Near zero visibility on the plains has forced the Elizabeth Fire Protection District to stop all plows in Elbert County. Road conditions aren't much better elsewhere. An 80 mph wind gust was clocked at Denver International Airport just before noon on Wednesday, signalling wind as powerful as a Category 1 hurricane. Snow totals will be less in areas closer to the mountains, but expected accumulation keeps increasing as forecasters check new models, the NWS said. Strong winds are expected to continue blizzard conditions over the plains throughout the night, while some improvement is expected closer to the mountains. Still, strong winds and drifting snow are expected to make travel very difficult. In addition to trouble for the metro, FoCo, Colorado Springs and the plains, the northern mountains are getting high winds and heavy snow - similarly creating poor travel conditions. A large chunk of Wyoming is also under a blizzard warning Wednesday. The National Weather Service suggests those considering traveling in the northeastern portion of the state cancel their plans - specifically across the mountains and then the plains. If you head somewhere in the morning, the NWS said, you may end up stranded wherever you traveled to by the afternoon. Another possible traffic trouble spot is the metro area, forecasters at the National Weather Service said. The entire I-25 urban corridor could become gridlocked - power outages and snow piling into traffic signals isn't helping anything. 9NEWS will continue to follow the storm and keep you constantly updated on traffic conditions. WATCH BELOW: 5 of Denver's top 20 snowstorms have happened in March A "blizzard warning" means that severe winter weather conditions are either expected or currently occurring, according to NWS. Due to the intensity of falling or blowing snow and strong winds, extremely poor visibility is likely. This inevitably leads to "whiteout" conditions. Never travel in a blizzard. If you absolutely must travel, make sure to have a winter survival kit with you. If you get stranded, stay with your vehicle. In addition to the blizzard warning, nearly every square mile of the state is under some kind of warning, including Avalanche Warnings in most of the High Country (especially in the southwestern area), High Wind Warnings in the far-southern edge of the state, Winter Storm Warnings for most of the Western Slope and some Winter Weather Advisories for the rest of the state. The full warning and watch map can be seen on the NWS website.<doc-sep>You’ve probably heard by now that much of eastern Colorado, including Denver, is likely to get walloped by a major blizzard on Wednesday. This storm could truly be in a league of its own in terms of just how strong it might be. One of, if not the main, tools to measure the strength of an individual storm is by figuring out its central pressure. In short, the lower the pressure, the stronger the storm. The Weather Prediction Center (WPC), an arm of the National Oceanic Atmospheric and Administration (NOAA), is calling for the central pressure of the midweek blizzard to be in the 975 millibar range on Wednesday night, a figure that is nearly off the charts for Colorado. Other individual computer model simulations show the storm’s pressure dropping as low as 970 millibars — a truly extraordinary feat for Colorado, were it to take place. RELATED: Blizzard warning now in effect for Denver and entire Front Range, mountains could get 20 inches of snow To put that into perspective, a storm with a central pressure of 975 millibars is roughly equivalent to a Category 2 hurricane. This also would potentially rival Colorado’s lowest central pressure on record. Dr. Russ Schumacher, Colorado’s state climatologist, tweeted on Wednesday morning that the lowest pressure in Colorado that he could find was a 975.8 millibar rating in 1973. According to the Colorado Climate Center, there is no official exact lowest pressure on record for the state. But a low pressure around 972 millibars is believed to be around the lowest measured pressure in state history. This is based on data from the WPC. Additionally, this storm could be a rare Colorado cyclone that could meet the official definition of bombogenesis, an official term used to describe an extreme intensification of a storm. In order for a storm to officially undergo bombogenesis, or a bomb cyclone, it must drop 24 millibars or more in 24 hours or less. Current model simulations appear to show that rapid transition taking place between Tuesday night and Wednesday night. Storms of this extreme magnitude are more common along the East Coast during the winter when a sharp temperature divide between the warmer Atlantic Ocean clashes with the much colder land mass helps form potent nor’easters. RELATED: What is a “bomb cyclone”? But in Colorado, the lack of a major nearby body of water usually means we don’t see storms quite as strong as this week’s could be. That said, however, an unusually mild and humid air mass lifting north out of the Gulf of Mexico will collide with cold, Arctic air to the north on Tuesday and Wednesday. Coupled with a potent jet stream, this will help potentially create the setup for the strongest Colorado storm in years, at least in terms of barometric pressure. The end result of a storm this strong? Winds that could be pushing 80 mph in Colorado’s eastern plains, according to the National Weather Service, a number that could inflict serious damage on eastern Colorado. Major travel disruptions will likely take place, in addition to power outages. Additionally, young livestock could be in high danger during the heart of calving season. RELATED: What exactly is a blizzard? Chris Bianchi is a meteorologist for WeatherNation TV.<doc-sep>
DENVER (CBS4) – A powerful storm system heading for Colorado will bring rain, snow, and extremely fierce winds on Wednesday. We will start off with some rain late on Tuesday night in Denver, and that will quickly turn over to snow in the morning. This could mean another nasty commute to work, and the drive home won’t be great either. The storm is being called a “bomb cyclone” because the pressure in the center of the storm will drop fast as it races toward Colorado. It could be historic in terms of the minimum pressure ever measured in our region of the country. In other words, this storm is an aberration which is part of the reason we have a laundry list of weather watches, warnings, and advisories around the state. RELATED: Flights Starting To Be Canceled Out Of DIA On Wednesday | Blizzard Warning Leads To Colorado School Closures | ‘Bomb Cyclone’ May Cause Migraines, Aches, Pains, Even Early Labor Almost everyone east of I-25 in Colorado is under a Blizzard Warning starting at 10am Wednesday. The warning includes the east half of the Denver metro area for at least 5 to 8 inches of heavy, wet snow and wind gusts to 60 mph causing near zero visibility. Farther east snow totals could reach a foot and will combine with wind gusts up to 75 mph causing travel to become impossible in many areas. The Colorado Springs area is also under a Blizzard Warning but snow total should be no higher than 4 inches. In the mountains, plan on winter driving conditions and possible road closures through Thursday morning with 10-20 inches of snow for the mountains of Summit County and the Winter Park area. Farther west amounts will range from 10 to 16 inches for the mountains west of Vail Pass. The San Juan Mountains in southwest Colorado will see at least another 12 to 24 inches of snow through Wednesday night. The Sangre de Cristo Mountains will see 10 to 20 inches and are under a Avalanche Warning through Thursday morning. In southeast Colorado, most of the precipitation will be rain instead of snow. But these areas will be closest to the storm, wind will extremely fierce at times. Locations such as Lamar, La Junta, Burlington, and Springfield are under a High Wind Warning from noon Wednesday through 6 a.m. Thursday for gusts up to 75 mph. Most of the snow will die down on Wednesday, late night. However, there will still be some light snow possible on Thursday morning. The snow will end by early Thursday morning leaving windy and cold weather for Thursday afternoon. We’ll have another bitter night on Thursday into Friday. Somewhat warmer weather will arrive on Friday before a more significant warm up just in time for the St. Patrick’s Day weekend.