What weather forecasters expect to be one of the worst and longest storms in years is expected to begin in Summit County today, bringing cold temperatures, some snow and wind gusts over 100 mph in some places through the end of the week.

“This … is not your typical storm system,” National Weather Service meteorologist Todd Dankers said. “You don't want to take this one lightly. Be prepared to be indoors for a while. It's just going to be a tough situation and one we haven't seen in a few years, both for how long it's going to take and the strength of the wind.”

The storm is expected to drop into Colorado from Oregon and Washington today and settle in to stay through Thursday night.

Summit County is under a high-wind warning until at least Thursday morning. Anticipating some snow as well, forecasters warned they might add blizzard warnings to the mix as the week goes on.

“It's something you don't forecast very often, but as we're going through Wednesday if we see a big slug of moisture coming in you may see a blizzard warning too,” Dankers said. “But the wind is going to be the worst part of it.”

Possible wind speeds in the 40-50 mph range and gusts up to 100 mph on the ridges are expected to make temperatures in 30s feel even colder.

There is a chance of snow in the forecast every day this week, but accumulation will likely be limited and hard to see with the wind blowing snow around.

Forecasts call for an inch or two of new snow in Summit County today and a possible 3-5 inches tonight, which is expected to be the best opportunity for snowfall this week. Thursday and Friday will bring slighter chances of precipitation.

Still, halfway though what has turned out to be a very dry season, resort officials aren't complaining.

“The natural snow is definitely welcome and is a great compliment to what our snow makers and groomers have been able to do all season,” Keystone Resort spokeswoman Laura Parquette said. “Hopefully it keeps coming.”

With the solid snowfall Monday, Keystone has already gotten 4 inches of fresh powder this week. Breckenridge was reporting 5 inches Tuesday morning. Arapahoe Basin and Copper Mountain each reported 4 inches as well.

“We seem to be in a nice storm cycle,” Copper spokesman Pete Woods said.

Taking advantage of the fresh snow that has fallen in small batches over the last few weeks, Keystone is set to open 12 trails with 200 additional acres of terrain today. Copper's operations teams are working to open Resolution by this weekend.

Up-to-date forecasts and weather warnings are available online at www.weather.gov.