Well, it’s about that time again! More active weather is going to be moving into Colorado and it’s October so we could have some wild, windy and snowy weather to contend with. For me, this is an exciting time to forecast because forecasting winter weather in Colorado is one of the more fun parameters to forecast across the state so – tis the season for fun forecasting!
Let’s start with a quick overview of what’s expected.
- A storm bringing rain and high elevation snow will move into Colorado Thursday/Friday
- This same storm will create some very windy conditions this weekend over the mountains and will bring cooler air in dropping snow levels down to around 9,000 feet.
- A cold front swing through Saturday PM bringing cooler temps and some rain to the Front Range with windy conditions expected
- Drying out for Monday and staying seasonal
- Our first big storm moves in Tuesday/Wednesday and could bring widespread heavy snow to the mountains and a cold rain/maybe some snow to the Urban Corridor.
DETAILS
Our first of a series of storms begins to move into Western Colorado today with rain showers becoming more widespread through the afternoon. Snow levels will remain high above pass level so no snow concerns just yet through Friday.
Widespread rain encompasses much of the mountainous areas of Colorado for Friday and lingers into Saturday. By Saturday night, a cold front will move through E. Colorado and bring the Front Range some cooler and maybe some showery weather for Sunday. Overall, not a super impactful storm. Mountainous areas should end up with a light coating of snow by Sunday. We’re also looking at a hard freeze for mountain areas as lows drop into the 20s for a lot of folks.
It will also get pretty windy Saturday afternoon as the cold front approaches. Winds could gust up to 30 mph on the Plains and 50-60 mph on the eastern slopes of the Front Range mountains so prepare for that.
Monday will be a quiet day before our next big storm moves in. Tuesday into Wednesday I am watching for the first big snowstorm of the season to move into Colorado. This is looking likely to bring the mountains the first significant snow of the season and could bring snow all the way down to Denver. The models are differing slightly in timing and impacts which goes to show that there is a bit of uncertainty with this forecast for the Denver area. More confidence is in place for the mountains, the Foothills and possibly the Palmer Divide where snow is looking likely. Up to a foot of snow is not out of the question for the favored slopes while a few inches of accumulation is possible in the Foothills and mountain valleys.
This is a fun time to be forecasting in Colorado but as always, things can change pretty quickly so stay tuned for more updates.
~ Andy
Leave a Reply