Crystal balls at the ready

Along with today’s story on the National Weather Service, I asked our local TV meteorologists for their best guess on today’s snow totals. Kinda unfair, since I asked at like 4 p.m. yesterday, but here’s the predictions:

Brian Bledsoe, KKTV/Channel 11
Forecast: 3-8 inches
“I’m always hesitant to put in huge snow for the Springs and Pueblo. I’m looking at one model that says the Springs could see a foot and a half and I’m looking at another that says we’re only going to get five inches.
“Here, just because of terrain issues, we could run 14 (inches of snow) at Briargate and only two at the airport. We’ve seen that happen many a time.
“As it is, it’s going to cause some pretty good problems. The afternoon commute is probably going to be horrendous.”

Matt Meister, KRDO/Channel 13
Forecast: 2-6 inches
“It looks like during the morning (Thursday), things will start to go downhill. By noon time, we’ll have a couple places up north of downtown that are starting to get pretty rough.
“It is a spring storm - you get a lot of variability, too. Real localized stuff happens and you get thunderstorm pockets, basically, that drop huge amounts of snow. Something crazy like that is still a possibility.
“You have to keep adjusting as the thing comes in. Those small details, they’re important.”

Terry Gerbstadt, KXRM/Channel 21
Forecast: 3-6 inches

Mike Daniels, KOAA/Channels 5&30
Forecast: 6-12 inches

Steve Hodanish, National Weather Service
Forecast: 4-8 inches
“We’re pretty confident about this one; the tough part is predicting just how bad it’s going to be. But I’ll be shocked if I-25 doesn’t get closed.
“It’s Colorado Springs - the south side may not get much, while on the north side it could be pounding. If you’re going to Denver (on Thursday) to work, you’re not getting home.”