National Weather Service United States Department of Commerce

Atmospheric River in the Pacific Northwest and Northern Rockies this Weekend

A Pacific storm and atmospheric river will impact the Pacific Northwest states and northern Rockies this weekend, bringing locally heavy low elevations rain and heavy high elevation snow in the mountains. By Sunday over the Interior Northwest, rain combined with snowmelt will increase the risk of flood hazards. Flood Watches are in effect. Read More >

Overview

A strong cold front moved through Utah and Colorado on Monday, bringing widespread snowfall and blizzard-like conditions to eastern Utah and western Colorado.

Wind significantly picked up across Utah and Colorado Saturday night and Sunday, with gusts of 50 to 70 mph at mountain passes. The wind became even stronger on Monday as the cold front passed through, with gusts in valleys gusting 40 to 60 mph and a notable recording of 115 mph at nearly 13,000 ft in the San Juans. Snow initially began in southwesterly flow across the high terrain of southeastern Utah and southwestern Colorado late Sunday night before the front moved through on Monday. Highway 550 was closed due to hazardous conditions beginning Monday, February 19th at 5:20pm from mile marker 49 to 92 including Red Mountain, Molas, and Coal Bank Passes. Part of this corridor of Highway 550 reopened on Tuesday, February 20th around 11am, with the rest of the corridor reopening just before 1pm on February 20th.

nws logo Media use of NWS Web News Stories is encouraged!
Please acknowledge the NWS as the source of any news information accessed from this site.
nws logo