Winter Storm Walda To Hit The West, Great Plains

Updates

April 8, 2013: snow accumulation forecasts for this week.


I haven't seen reports of snow like this in a very long time. These are the snow potentials forecast by SkyView by 9:00 a.m. Wednesday. By the way, after Wednesday, North Korea says it can no longer guarantee the safety of any foreigner in its country. But I digress. Back to snow accumulation by 9:00 a.m. Wednesday:

•  Buffalo, SD: 10 inches
• Lemmon, SD: 3 inches
• Faith, SD: 17 inches
• Hot Springs, SD: 20 inches
• Rapid City, SD: 26 inches
• Newell, SD: 25 inches
• Spearfish: 23 inches
• Gillette, Wyoming: 19 inches

Original Post

Where's Walda. Walda, not Waldo.

Link here to The Weather Channel. More global warming -- this time a huge winter storm will move from Salt Lake City to the western Dakotas.

The forecast is a tough one for Salt Lake City [The Weather Channel's words, not MDW], where rain could mix with or change over to snow late Monday into Monday night. Depending on exactly how cold it gets and how quickly, a few inches of slushy snow could accumulate on the valley floor, with some limited impacts on travel.

This heavy snow will likely plunge into the northern Colorado Front Range urban corridor late Monday night. Expect a period of rain and possibly thunderstorms, changing to snow Monday night as temperatures plummet rapidly from the 40s to near 20, leading to a flash freeze. A sheen of ice may well form on roadways underneath the heavy falling snow, making travel extremely treacherous. 

This is a dynamic link from the National Weather Service, a blizzard watch for Colorado, including the Air Force Academy:

URGENT - WINTER WEATHER MESSAGE
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PUEBLO CO
350 PM MDT SUN APR 7 2013

COZ084-080400-
/O.CON.KPUB.BZ.A.0004.130409T0900Z-130410T0000Z/
NORTHERN EL PASO COUNTY/MONUMENT RIDGE/RAMPART RANGE BELOW
7500 FT-
INCLUDING...BLACK FOREST...AIR FORCE ACADEMY
350 PM MDT SUN APR 7 2013

...BLIZZARD WATCH REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM LATE MONDAY NIGHT
THROUGH TUESDAY AFTERNOON...

A BLIZZARD WATCH REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM LATE MONDAY NIGHT THROUGH
TUESDAY AFTERNOON.

* LOCATION...NORTHERN EL PASO COUNTY...INCLUDING I-25 OVER
  MONUMENT HILL...PALMER LAKE...MONUMENT...BLACK FOREST...
  PEYTON...CALHAN...RAMAH AND THE AIR FORCE ACADEMY.

* SNOW ACCUMULATION...3 TO 6 INCHES WITH DRIFTS UP TO SEVERAL
  FEET.

* WIND...STRONG NORTH WINDS 20 TO 40 GUSTING TO 65 MPH CAUSING
  EXTENSIVE BLOWING AND DRIFTING SNOW...AND VISIBILITIES NEAR
  ZERO AT TIMES.

A reader tells me southwestern North Dakota could see 3 - 8 inches of snow. A Wyoming winter advisory says 10 to 18 inches is possible.

Think how bad this would be without global warming. Count your lucky blessings, as we used to say.