Colorado just had a pretty potent storm move through with high winds, more than a foot of snow, severe thunderstorms and the first freezing temperatures of the season for some. All of the weather alerts that covered the state really showed the extent of the hazards that were impacting the state.
That storm has now moved off into the northern Plains and any lingering effects (which are mainly mountain snow showers) will be over by the end of Wednesday afternoon.
On the heels of that storm, is our next storm that is moving in from the Pacific Northwest. This storm, although weaker, will bring another round of snow to the high country and it will bring a reinforcing shot of cold air that will drop temperatures well below average for Thursday and Friday. This storm may also bring a round of light snow to the Urban Corridor.
Temperatures
Although some areas fell below freezing along the Plains Wednesday morning, not everyone in the metro area saw sub-freezing temperatures leaving the first freeze still a mark to hit this season. Temperatures Thursday morning will fall to near freezing for much of the area. Although not everywhere will have freezing temperatures, areas like the Palmer Divide and some other Foothill locations will.
Thursday afternoon is likely to be Denver’s coldest day since May 11 when our high temperatures was 43-degrees. Afternoon highs are not expected to hit 50-degrees for many of us. The NWS in Boulder has an afternoon high of just 49-degrees for Thursday with the possibility of it not even getting that “warm.” The Foothills and Palmer Divide will be cold with highs in the 30s and low 40s.
Friday morning will be the coldest morning of the season with temperatures across the metro dropping into the 20s. If Denver reaches 28-degrees, it’ll be the coldest morning since April 15 – the current forecast for Friday morning is 28-degrees. Foothill and Palmer Ridge regions will drop into the teens and lower 20s.
Temperatures struggle to rebound Friday but it will be a few degrees warmer than Thursday. Similarly, Saturday morning’s low temperature will be what we experienced Friday morning. The big change will come Saturday afternoon when we warm up to near average. Highs will jump into the 60s for the Denver area with widespread 50s to the Foothills and mountains.
Front Range Snow Chance
This system isn’t only bringing cold, it’s bringing a bit of moisture with it as well. Snow will start falling in the mountains from north to south starting Thursday morning. Cloud cover will build over Denver and the chance for some light, cold rain will start after 1:00pm. For the Foothills like Nederland, Estes Park and Conifer, this should start as all snow or quickly changeover. A similar story will unfold along the Palmer Divide in areas like Castlerock and Monument.
As temperatures cool in Denver, the light rain should start to mix with snow and eventually change over to all snow at some point in the evening. The chance of rain or snow only lasts till about midnight so we will have a limited chunk of time for this to happen in.
In total, a few inches could fall in the mountains, Foothills and along the Palmer Divide but areas around the metro should only see a dusting to an inch of snow at most. Denver’s average date of the first snow is on October 18th so although this year will be early, this is a very normal time for snow to be happening in the Mile High City.
This weekend should be a gorgeous Colorado weekend. We won’t have another round of active weather move in until the middle of next week as it stands right now.
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