Warmer weather arrives after a snowy Monday

A surprise snow fell in Denver today, as easterly upslope flow developed behind two different cold fronts passing through associated with the storm system moving across the Rockies.  The first round of snow began this morning, as heavy, wet flakes fell over south Denver for about an hour, accumulating half an inch or so, before melting soon after.  Temperatures never warmed up much today, and as the second wave passed through this afternoon, another round of moderate to heavy snow moved through, dropping 1-2 inches in the city, before the sun came out late in the afternoon (although temperatures remained cold).  Local weather forecasters are notorious for missing some of these light snow events in Denver.  I hope to learn how to pick up on these "hidden" snow events better as I become more experienced.

Heavy snow fell in the mountains last night as expected, with most ski areas statewide reporting 5-11 inches on their 6 a.m. snow report this morning, making for a nice powder day statewide... one of the best of the season on a statewide level.  Some of the higher snow reports from this morning include 11" at Crested Butte, 9" at Monarch, 9" at Breckenridge, 8" at Steamboat, and 7" at Copper.  Loveland also updated their report to 11" by midday.  Additionally, the SNOTEL site at Buffalo Pass, north of Steamboat, was reporting close to two FEET of new snow as of this morning!  Snow continued after the 6 a.m. reports, so many areas likely ended up with double digit totals.  As a heavy round of snow moved through this afternoon, two major pile-ups occurred on I-70, both involving about 25 cars each and closing the highway between Vail Pass and Georgetown for hours.  What a mess...


Warmer weather arrives Tuesday lasting through Thursday; major Front Range snowstorm possible this weekend

After Monday's abrupt, but brief, return to winter-like conditions, a ridge of high pressure will bring warmer weather back to Colorado starting tomorrow, with the warmest temperatures occurring Wednesday and Thursday.  Low temperatures on Tuesday morning will start out cold... low teens in Denver, single digits in the foothills, and 0 to 10 below for mountain valleys.  However, temperatures will warm up quickly, with afternoon highs in Denver reaching the upper 40's, and highs at the ski resort base areas reaching the upper 30's to near 40.  Even warmer weather arrives on Wednesday and Thursday, with highs reaching the low 60's both days.

Following a few days of warm weather, however, a strong low pressure system is still on track to move through the Four Corners region this weekend, and if the track that both the European and GFS (American) Models have been consistently forecasting holds true, Denver and the Front Range east of the Continental Divide could be in for a major snowstorm, possibly lasting a couple of days.  As I mentioned yesterday, this is about 5-6 days out so it's too early for specifics, in terms of exact storm track, timing, and precipitation amounts, but it is looking very interesting.