Cold start to the day with temps below zero many areas. A few lingering flurries this morning will give way to partly cloudy skies and even some sun this afternoon, but temps will remain well below seasonal norms.
Focus turns to weekend system. Upper level trough will move down the West Coast today and become a closed upper low over central CA Saturday and move into southern CA Sunday. Energy from this system with upper level jet stream and difluence aloft will bring heavy snow to western CO from tonight through Monday evening. Winter Storm Warnings cover most of western CO from Noon today through 8 pm Monday. Travel west of the Divide this weekend will be difficult to impossible. Snow moves into southwest CO tonight and spreads across most of western CO during the day on Saturday. By Saturday afternoon/evening, some snow is expected to push east of the Divide as cold front moves south over eastern CO, so snow moves into the foothills and Urban Corridor from about 3 pm Saturday into Sunday morning. Not much snow is expected east of I-25 from this system. Eastern CO will see a break Sunday while snow will be continuous west of the Divide. A second impulse will bring more snow chances to the foothills and Urban Corridor Sunday evening and night. On Monday snow remains mostly west of the Divide. Snow level across southwest Co will be 6000-7000 ft most of the weekend. Snow level should remain down to plains level across eastern CO as cold air remains in place. For snow amounts from Friday afternoon through Monday evening, looks like this:
Southwest Mountains: 2-4 feet
Central and Southern Mountains: 1-2 feet
Northern Mountains: 6-14 inches
Foothills: 3-7 inches
Urban Corridor and Palmer Divide: 1-4 inches
Plains: Trace to 2 inches
Then, another potent but fast moving system will move down from the northwest and bring another shot of snow to most of CO Tuesday into Wednesday morning. Latest models put this system fast on the heels of existing weekend system, so snow could move into northern CO Monday night and looks like a snowy Tuesday for most of CO next week, with snow ending by early Wednesday morning. This system should bring several more inches of snow to the mountains and foothills as well as the Urban Corridor, so expect a dismal commute next Tuesday.
Models then suggest CO and most of the West will dry out and warm up from next Wednesday through the middle of the following week. Next precip does not look to be until March 10-11.
As most have likely seen, Denver set their all time snow record for February yesterday with 22.2 inches for the month. Atop Conifer Mountain, I have measured 39.5 inches of snow so far this month, but far short of our February record of 53 inches in 2013. Season total on Conifer Mountain now at 86 inches, which brings us closer to our average at the end of February of 98 inches, so we are about 85% of seasonal normal now. Hopefully the snowy trend will continue in March and April.
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"Climatology is what you expect, Weather is what you get".
"It is better to be roughly right than precisely wrong".
Too bad future generations aren't here to see all the great things we are spending their $$ on!!
