A storm system generated between six and seven inches of snow near the communities of Divide, Rye, Palmer Lake, Beulah, Florissant, Wetmore and Westcliffe.
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The episode as NWS PUB wrote it up.
A storm system generated between six and seven inches of snow near the communities of Divide, Rye, Palmer Lake, Beulah, Florissant, Wetmore and Westcliffe.
The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.
NWS Pueblo, CO wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Mar 26, 4:03 PM MST, 3 hours 57 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Pueblo CO 503 PM MDT Mon Mar 26 2018 .UPDATE... Issued at 458 PM MDT Mon Mar 26 2018 Updated to include western and central Fremont county in the Winter Weather Advisory. This area may see 3-6 inches with locally up to 8 inches near the mountains. Snow grids already had this pretty well captured. Also made some minor tweaks to timing of pop grids on the front end of the database. -KT && .SHORT TERM...(This evening through Tuesday) Issued at 328 PM MDT Mon Mar 26 2018 ...Beneficial precip to affect most of the region next 18-24 hours... Currently... At 2 pm, a band of cirrus was noted east and south of a line from Just south of Akron to Colo Springs to Alamosa. Over the remainder of the NWS Pueblo fcst area skies were predominantly clear. Just to the north of El Paso county a few convective showers were noted. Rest of today, into tomorrow... Beneficial rain and snow will affect the region starting late this afternoon and into this evening. A secondary cold front will move across the Palmer Divide around 6 pm and quickly move down the plains tonight as a mid level trough over the intermountain west moves towards the region. I anticipate precip to rapidly develop across northern El Paso county late this afternoon and push quickly southward. Precip over N El Paso will start as rain showers (with isold thunder possible), but should go over to snow during the 7-8 pm time frame. By 9 pm the precip will push south reaching the east slopes of the Wet Mtns, and reaching down to the NM border by midnight. Guidance indicates the snow will likely become heavy across the wet mountains, with the heaviest snow generally above 7000 feet. For this reason I have changed the advisory to a warning for the lower parts of the wet mtns. This event will likely be the heaviest snowfall across the eastern Wet mtns this winter season. I would not be too surprised if snowfall values over 1 foot occur above 7500 feet on the eastern slopes of the Wet Mtns. Generally over the lower elevations of the plains...accumulating snow will likely occur at the ~6000 feet level. Areas down to 5000 ft will see snow late tonight but believe it will mostly melt on paved surfaces. Another area which may see enhanced snow accumulations will be the eastern slopes of the Southwest mtns, especially the east slopes of the San juans. This snow will occur late tonight into tomorrow morning. The far western sections of the San Luis valley floor may also see a few inches. The southeast part of the San Luis Valley may not see much in the way of any precip. The precip will end from north to south starting around sunrise tomorrow. The snow should end across the Pikes Peak region after sunrise. By noontime, most of the snow will be down across the Spanish Peaks region and the eastern slopes of the San Juan mtns. By late tomorrow afternoon, the precip should be coming to an end across the far southern sections of the fcst area. As for temps tonight, the lower Ark river valley from Pueblo east to the KS border should remain above freezing with temps dropping to the mid 30s. All other areas should get below freezing. Max temps tomorrow will be around 50F across the far eastern plains with 40s most other areas across the plains and valleys. Overall, we should see some very beneficial QPF with this storm. Wet mtns will do the best, with amounts >0.75 possible. The I-25 corridor should see 0.25 to 0.40 while the far eastern plains should see a couple of tenths. interior mtns will see 0.10 to 0.40. The San Luis valleys will see some qpf, especially the western valley floor. The southeast sections of the valley floor may not see any precip. \/Hodanish .LONG TERM...(Tuesday night through Monday) Issued at 328 PM MDT Mon Mar 26 2018 Tuesday night-Thursday night...Increasing northwest flow aloft progged across the region as a broad upper trough within the northern stream continues across the High Plains, as southern stream closed upper low across south central New Mexico weakens and phases with the passing High Plains system. Models continue to indicate another disturbance embedded within the northwest flow, translating across the Rockies later Wednesday and into early Thursday, bringing another round of showers to the region. With that said, should see precipitation ending fairly quickly Tuesday evening from west to east across the area with developing downslope flow, save for a few possible showers across the Continental Dvd, especially the Central Mountains into Wedensday afternoon. These showers continue to spread south and east across Eastern Colorado Wednesday night before diminishing from west to east Thursday. At this time, precipitation through out this period looks to be generally light, with light snow accumulations confined to the higher terrain. Temperatures warm slightly to at and slightly above seasonal levels for Wednesday and then cool back to below seasonal levels for Thursday. Friday-Monday...Warmer and drier weather remains in the offing for Friday into early Saturday, with lower confidence in the forecast for later into the weekend and into early next week, as the GFS keeps westerly flow aloft across the region, keeping some light snow chances across the ContDvd. The ECMWF continues a advertise a stronger, colder and more amplified system digging across region for late Saturday and Sunday, bringing a strong cold front across Eastern Colorado and much better chances of precipitation areawide. With that said, have stayed close to a blended model solution, which brings chances of rain and snow across the area late Saturday night through Sunday night, though is not as cold as the ECMWF solution at this time. && .AVIATION...(For the 00Z TAFS through 00Z Tuesday evening) Issued at 328 PM MDT Mon Mar 26 2018 A strong cold front will move across KCOS and KPUB during the 00-01 UTC time frame early this evening. CIGs will rapidly lower and rain, changing to snow, will occur this evening. Gusty north to northeast winds are near certain. The heaviest precip at KCOS and KPUB will occur mainly during the 06-12 UTC time frame. Skies will gradually clear out tomorrow morning. Accumulating snow is likely at KCOS. Snow is likely at KPUB but much of it may melt as it hits the ground. VFR conditions likely by later morning/noontime at KCOS/KPUB. KALS will see increasing clouds with lowering cigs tonight, with snow showers likely into the early morning hours into tomorrow morning. snow showers are likely. && .PUB WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... Winter Storm Warning from 9 PM this evening to noon MDT Tuesday for COZ075-079-080. Winter Weather Advisory from 9 PM this evening to noon MDT Tuesday for COZ058-060-063-072>074-076>078-087. Winter Weather Advisory from midnight tonight to noon MDT Tuesday for COZ066-068. Winter Weather Advisory until 7 AM MDT Tuesday for COZ081-082- 084. && UPDATE...KT SHORT TERM...HODANISH LONG TERM...MW AVIATION...HODANISH
Hazardous Weather Outlook National Weather Service Pueblo CO 531 PM MDT Mon Mar 26 2018 COZ058>089-093>099-272345- Western Mosquito Range/East Lake County Above 11000 Feet- Leadville Vicinity/Lake County Below 11000 Feet- Eastern Sawatch Mountains Above 11000 Feet- Western Chaffee County Between 9000 and 11000 Feet- Central Chaffee County Below 9000 Feet- Western Mosquito Range/East Chaffee County Above 9000 Feet- Saguache County West of Continental Divide Below 10000 Feet- Saguache County East of Continental Divide Below 10000 Feet- La Garita Mountains Above 10000 Feet- Upper Rio Grande Valley/Eastern San Juan Mountains Below 10000 Feet-Eastern San Juan Mountains Above 10000 Feet- Del Norte Vicinity/Northern San Luis Valley Below 8500 Feet- Alamosa Vicinity/Central San Luis Valley Below 8500 Feet- Southern San Luis Valley- Northern Sangre de Cristo Mountains Between 8500 And 11000 Feet- Northern Sangre de Cristo Mountains Above 11000 Feet- Southern Sangre de Cristo Mountains Between 7500 and 11000 Feet- Southern Sangre de Cristo Mountains Above 11000 Feet- Northwestern Fremont County Above 8500 Feet- Western/Central Fremont County Below 8500 Feet- Wet Mountain Valley Below 8500 Feet- Wet Mountains between 6300 and 10000 Feet- Wet Mountains Above 10000 Feet- Teller County/Rampart Range Above 7500 Feet/Pikes Peak Between 7500 And 11000 Feet-Pikes Peak Above 11000 Feet- Canon City Vicinity/Eastern Fremont County- Northern El Paso County/Monument Ridge/Rampart Range Below 7500 Feet- Colorado Springs Vicinity/Southern El Paso County/Rampart Range Below 7400 Feet-Pueblo Vicinity/Pueblo County Below 6300 Feet- Walsenburg Vicinity/Upper Huerfano River Basin Below 7500 Feet- Trinidad Vicinity/Western Las Animas County Below 7500 Feet- Crowley County-La Junta Vicinity/Otero County- Eastern Las Animas County-Western Kiowa County- Eastern Kiowa County-Las Animas Vicinity/Bent County- Lamar Vicinity/Prowers County-Springfield Vicinity/Baca County- 531 PM MDT Mon Mar 26 2018 This hazardous weather outlook is for portions of central...east central...south central and southeast Colorado. .DAY ONE...Tonight Snow will spread into the mountains, portions of the I-25 corridor and the adjacent valleys tonight. The heaviest accumulations will occur across the southeast mountains including the Wet Mountains, Sangre De Cristo mountains and Pikes Peak region. North to Northeast winds gusting to around 30 mph will spread from the Palmer Divide region into the southern I-25 corridor overnight. Expect deteriorating road conditions in and near the mountains overnight as snow levels drop and roads become slick and snowpacked. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...Tuesday through Sunday Snow will decrease from north to south on Tuesday with the majority of the snowfall ending by early afternoon. Storm total snowfall amounts will range from 6 to 10 inches with locally up to 16 inches across the Wet Mountains and higher Sangre De Cristo mountains. The remainder of the mountains will see between 4 to 8 inches, however local amounts of up to a foot will be possible along northeast facing slopes. Valley areas and northern El Paso county will see snowfall amounts in the 3 to 6 inch range with locally higher amounts. The San Luis valley and the Upper Arkansas river valley of Chaffee and Lake counties will see between 1 and 3 inches. The southeast plains will see mainly rain, though a brief rain snow mix will be possible early Tuesday morning. Any accumulation is expected to be spotty and confined to grassy areas. Wednesday night and Thursday morning, the central mountains and the Pikes Peak and Teller county areas could see a few inches of snow accumulation. Some light snow accumulations could occur on Saturday in the central mountains. Then on Sunday there will be the potential for a few to several inches of snow accumulation over all the mountains, but there is a lot of uncertainty as to exactly where this system will track. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... Weather conditions that meet reporting criteria for spotters will likely tonight over and near the mountains and along the Interstate 25 corridor. 31/31
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
2 winter storm. Local standard time, as filed.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Colorado in 2018Every state in 2018This day in weather historyWarnings in Colorado, March 2018
NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 742411, 742412.