FRONT RANGE, Colo. – Colorado authorities are warning that heavy snowfall in the mountains could lead to natural and human-caused avalanches “large enough to bury or kill you” over the next several days.
The Colorado Avalanche Information Center issued an avalanche watch for the Steamboat, Front Range, Vail/Summit, Aspen, and North and South San Juan zones from 6 a.m. Wednesday through noon Thursday.
The information center says travel into or below avalanche-prone areas is not recommended.
“Natural and human triggered avalanches in the new and wind-drifted snow could break up to 3 feet thick and be large enough to bury or kill you,” the center said in a news release Wednesday morning. “If you trigger a smaller avalanche in the new or wind-drifted snow, it could step down to the deeper buried weak layers at the ground resulting in a catastrophic avalanche large enough to break trees or destroy a car.”
The avalanche information center advises anyone who has to go into avalanche territory to evaluate the snowpack and pay attention to the changing conditions.
MORE ON THE WINTER STORM:
- How much snow will we get?
- Ongoing snow and travel updates throughout the storm
- Denver plows out in full force
- Daily weather forecast
- Denver7 weather page
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