Season's first winter weather advisories cover Colorado's high country, with 4 to 12 inches of snow by Thursday morning

After a warm, dry start to fall, winter arrives in the Colorado high country this week. National Weather Service offices in Denver, Pueblo and Grand Junction issued winter weather advisories on Tuesday covering the northern mountains, the central ranges and the San Juans, most of them running from Wednesday into Thursday morning, with snow totals of 4 to 12 inches depending on the range and wind gusts up to 35 mph in the southern and central mountains.

The northern advisory, reissued early Wednesday, runs from noon Wednesday to 6 a.m. Thursday and covers Rabbit Ears Pass, Rocky Mountain National Park and the Medicine Bow Range, and the mountains of Summit County, the Mosquito Range and the Indian Peaks, with total accumulations between 4 and 12 inches. The advisory warns, in the weather service's words, that "snow covered roads will make travel hazardous, especially through mountain passes." Autoblog's rundown of the advisories notes that the zone takes in Berthoud, Cameron, Willow Creek and Rabbit Ears passes along with the Eisenhower Tunnel, which puts Interstate 70 at its highest point inside the advisory area.

Farther south and west, the Pueblo office posted advisories for the Eastern San Juan Mountains and for high terrain in the Eastern Sawatch Mountains and Western Mosquito Range, and the Grand Junction office added advisories from the Flat Tops south through the West Elk and Sawatch mountains and into the San Juans. Those zones carry lower totals, generally 4 to 10 inches, with gusts as high as 35 mph, and include Wolf Creek, Cumbres, Vail, Monarch, McClure, Red Mountain, Molas, Coal Bank and Lizard Head passes. Drivers are told to plan on slushy, icy and snow covered roads, with the Wednesday commutes the main concern.

The storm's first flakes arrived ahead of the advisories. Loveland Ski Area, beside the Eisenhower Tunnel on the Continental Divide, recorded the first snow of its 2026-2027 season on Tuesday morning. The ski area said in its own post that "winter made its first appearance at Loveland Ski Area Tuesday morning," with snow beginning around 8 a.m. and collecting on the upper peaks and at the tops of the chairlifts. The Rocky Mountain Journal reported the same Tuesday snowfall, including snow accumulating on the deck of the Rock House warming hut at the top of the Chet's Dream chairlift.

Loveland's snowmaking team remains on standby. The ski area says its crews tested water lines and snowguns on Sept. 29 and are waiting for consistently cold temperatures before starting snowmaking in what it notes is its 60th year of snowmaking. Loveland hopes to open sometime between late October and early November, conditions permitting; last season it opened on Nov. 8, 2025. POWDER reported first flakes of the season at resorts across the state this week, including Keystone, Crested Butte, Vail, Beaver Creek, Arapahoe Basin and Steamboat.

For drivers, the timing is the hazard: the heaviest snow in the northern mountains falls Wednesday afternoon into early Thursday, in the dark, on passes that include the I-70 corridor at the Eisenhower Tunnel and Vail Pass. Colorado's Passenger Vehicle Traction Law has been in force on I-70 between Dotsero and Morrison since Sept. 1, and the Denver advisory directs travelers to COtrip for current conditions and traction or chain law status. Statewide road reports are also available by calling 511.

The snow is not expected to linger at lower elevations. Autoblog's summary of the outlook cited an NWS meteorologist telling Colorado Public Radio that mountain highs this weekend will probably be in the 40s, so much of the new snow is likely to melt off. For one night, though, the passes will look and drive like winter, three weeks before the first ski areas hope to open.