Winter Weather in West Elk and Sawatch Mountains, Colorado

Generally 5 to 12 inches of snow fell across the area with 7 inches reported at Crested Butte 6.2 N and 9 inches reported at McClure Pass. Winds gusted in the 45 to 55 mph range with a peak wind gust of 58 mph at Cinnamon Mountain.

With deep cold air in place following the strong Atmospheric River system and strong cold front, a third low pressure trough dropped down from the Pacific Northwest and passed through the Four Corners region. This brought moderate snowfall accumulations favoring the central and southern mountains of eastern Utah and western Colorado with much lighter amounts over the north. Since cold air was already in place, many lower valleys also received light to moderate snowfall accumulations particularly the central and southern valleys from along and south of the Interstate 70 corridor. Gusty winds led to blowing snow with some snow squalls across the southwest Colorado valleys at times due to the combination of snow, wind and visibilities less than a quarter mile.