Valley rain, mountain snow continues through Thursday morning

GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. (KJCT) - It’s been a cloudy, but mostly dry start to the day aside from a few occasional rain drops at times through the morning. We’ve seen plenty of snow so far in the higher elevations, and we’ll continue to see valley rain and mountain snow across the region through the rest of the day today.

Timing

Mountain snow and valley rain will continue to increase and coverage and linger around through the rest of the afternoon and into your evening commute as well. The pattern we’re seeing right now on radar will continue to remain the same through the day... Snow, some heavy at times in the mountains and rain, some heavy at times in the valleys. The central portions of the Western Slope could see a very brief break in the rain and snow between around 9 PM and midnight, then we’ll see rain and snow ramp back up overnight tonight and into early Thursday morning around the region as a cold front starts passing through. Snow will be coming down mostly along and south of a line from Dove Creek, to Montrose, to the Grand Mesa, and to Glenwood Springs during your morning commute, then snow will start to wind down through the rest of the morning. Some scattered to spotty snow could continue mostly over the eastern San Juan Mountains through the rest of Thursday afternoon. We’ll start trending drier all across the region once again into early Friday morning.

Snowfall Totals

We could see just enough of a transition over to snow to see between a trace and 1 to 2 inches of snow in Delta and especially into Montrose through Thursday morning. The rest of the valleys, including Grand Junction and even up into Parachute and Rifle, will see almost no snow accumulations--even if we manage to get some snowflakes to fall in those regions. 4 to 6 inches is possible in Crested Butte and Gunnison and 6 to 9 inches is possible at Douglas Pass, the Grand Mesa, and Aspen and Vail. A foot to 2 feet of snow is still possible over the San Juan Mountains, particularly the southern and southeastern portions of that area.

Travel Impacts

We’ll definitely see wet roads along Interstate 70 from the Utah state line to Glenwood Springs, as well as Highway 50 from Grand Junction to Montrose, but we aren’t particularly concerned with any sort of wintry weather troubles along either of those stretches. You will want to be more careful along Interstate 70 past Glenwood Springs and Highway 50 closer to Montrose, as we could see some snow accumulations along the roads. Travel through the mountains will be difficult to dangerous, particularly around the Grand Mesa, Crested Butte, Monarch Pass, the Uncompahgre Plateau, and the San Juan Mountains around Molas and Coal Bank Passes.

Next 24 Hours

Rain with mountain snow continues in Grand Junction, Delta, and even down into Cortez as well with highs ranging from the middle 40s to the lower 50s. Colder air starts to move in behind a cold front that moves through the region early Thursday morning, which could lead to a transition from rain to snow in Montrose and potentially Cortez as well. Delta could see a few snowflakes mix in with the snow, and Grand Junction will likely be lucky do see very much in the way of any kind of wintry precipitation through Thursday morning. We should start drying out into Thursday afternoon, but keep an eye out for some additional spotty rounds of snow around Montrose and Cortez through the day on Thursday.

Quick Weekend Preview

Skies will clear out on Friday, and temperatures will drop into the lower and middle 40s across the region. Clouds will start to increase once again through the weekend, but most of us should remain dry with highs gradually building back up into the upper 40s and lower to middle 50s. Our next rain and snow chance arrives by the middle of next week.

Copyright 2023 KJCT. All rights reserved.