Winter weather advisory in effect through 6 p.m. Wednesday

The National Weather Service issued a winter weather advisory through 6 p.m. today.

As much as 14 inches of snow is expected on northwest facing slopes with winds gusting as high as 45 miles per hour through today.

The advisory warns that visibility could be reduced to less than 1/2 mile at times in snow and blowing snow. The heaviest snow was expected to fall Tuesday night with lighter snowfall expected today.

The advisory includes the Gore and Elk Mountains, central mountain valleys and the West Elk and Sawatch Mountains, including the cities of Aspen, Vail, Snowmass, Crested Butte and Marble.

A hazardous weather outlook for the same regions predicts additional snowfall Friday through Saturday.

The powder forecasting site OpenSnow.com predicts heavier snow that should cover the harder base at most resorts after three days of dry and warm weather. Forecaster Joel Gratz wrote in his Tuesday storm forcast that additional snow should fall between the 5 a.m. snow reports and midday, with anywhere from 3 to 8 more inches of lighter, fluffier snow.

AspenWeather.net, another powder prediction site, wrote in its storm forecast that there should be 5 to 8 inches of snow by dawn today, with potentially 2 to 4 more inches after that. And if all goes according to the weather models, there could be 3 to 6 inches fresh by dawn on Saturday, according to AspenWeather.net.