(SOUTHERN COLORADO) — A wave of unsettled weather will come to Southern Colorado Saturday evening and will bring periods of heavy snow and thunderstorms that will have the potential to significantly impact travel.

To explain the science behind this, an area of low pressure and a cold front from the Northwest will move into the region Saturday night and will interact with and add energy to an already existing storm system that brought moisture into Southern Colorado on Saturday morning. Typically, whenever we have a setup like this where we have moisture, a cold front, and instability in the atmosphere we tend to see patches of very heavy snowfall with rates of 1 to 3 inches per hour, low visibility, gusty winds, and thunderstorms in some spots. So for Saturday night through Sunday morning, we expect this to happen.

Here’s a rundown of the timing and what you can expect:

Saturday afternoon: Some along the I-25 corridor and Plains will see rumbles of thunder and rainfall.

Saturday evening: Rain turns into a rain/snow mix as the cold front passes with some rumbles of thunder.

Late Saturday evening: Periods of very heavy snow with rates of 1 to 3 inches an hour, low visibility gusty winds of 25 to 40 mph for the Pikes Peak region, higher elevations, and plains.

Overnight into Sunday morning: Heavy snowfall and strong gusts continue for the overnight hours and early morning. Lighter snowfall mid-morning.

Sunday afternoon through Christmas morning: Snowfall just in the higher elevations

Travel Impacts

With the heavy snow and gusty conditions, this will make travel difficult for parts of the I-25 corridor especially El Paso County, Higher elevation communities and the plains. Reduce travel or stay at home as necessary for late Saturday night through early Sunday morning. Refer to the travel planner below for what to expect out on the roads.

Here are our preliminary snow totals for what we could see Saturday through Christmas morning. It is possible that this system could intensify overnight and we could get more than the amount shown below by Sunday morning.

The Fox21 Storm Team will be actively following this storm through the entire event. Stay tuned to Fox21 News on air, online, and through our Fox21 Weather App for all the winter coverage.