Colorado enjoys warm temperatures, sunny skies; but once again, changes (yes, SNOW) are looming

Sorry for the short updates, but the end of the semester has left me little time with finals coming up, school projects, new job, etc.

We've (finally) enjoyed our warmest stretch of weather so far this season in Colorado, with bluebird skies and temperatures well into the 70's on both Saturday and Sunday.  We'll have one more day of nice, mild weather on Monday, with highs likely reaching 80 for many parts of the metro area.

However, just when you thought we couldn't possibly get anymore spring snowfall in the Denver area... it's going to happen again, and on May 1st.  Tuesday night, a deep trough of low pressure and associated strong upper level jet will dip south into Colorado, bringing a surge of colder air and precipitation behind it, mainly affecting eastern Colorado along and east of the Continental Divide.  A strong cold front associated with the low pressure system will move through on Tuesday afternoon/evening, bringing a quick drop in temperatures, gusty winds, and the onset of precipitation beginning as rain, then changing over to snow at night (how many times have we seen this scenario this spring?).

A few models are indicating 1-2" of precipitation across the Front Range (from the metro area to the Continental Divide), which is awesome news, as our parade of spring storms continue to put a damper on the drought.  We are getting into May, and following a stretch of very warm weather, so I still don't think we'll see significant snow accumulations in Denver like we've seen with recent storms, but I do think a few inches of wet snow overnight are very possible... mostly on grassy surfaces, but possibly creating slick roads by daybreak.  The foothills and mountains could see significant accumulations, however, with up to a foot possible... great news for water resources, snowpack, and for Loveland and A-Basin, which are still open and enjoying excellent late season skiing conditions.

Temperatures on the first day of May (Wednesday) will be 30+ degrees below average in Denver, and unfortunately for those of you who were spoiled by this weekend's weather, below normal temperatures will persist through the weekend as surges of cooler air and moisture from the north continue to pool into Colorado.  By late this week and into next weekend, we'll likely see high temperatures in the 50's in Denver, which is warmer than Wednesday, but still pretty chilly for early May, as weak disturbances continue to move through, possibly bringing a few rain showers to the metro area, but more likely bringing periodic snow showers to the mountains, which certainly wouldn't be a bad thing for Loveland's closing weekend!