Potent system currently moving into western CO. Snow currently west of Vail Pass but will continue to spread east this afternoon into tonight. Latest models intensify this system as it moves east of the Rockies forming a closed upper low over eastern CO Monday morning with a deep surface low neat the CO/KS/NE border. All of this points to a period of good upslope flow across eastern CO from late tonight into Monday morning. Currently looks like snow will develop along the foothills late tonight (somewhere between modnight and 4 am) and continue Monday morning until about noon. Snow will be present from the foothills to the eastern Plains north of the Palmer Divide. Models output close to 1/2 inch of liquid equivalent, which means snow totals will range from a couple of inches on the low side, up to 6-8 inches on the high side. So snow amount forecast looks like this:
Mountains west of the Divide: 5-10 inches
Foothills and Palmer Divide: 3-7 inches
Banana Belt Areas: 1-3 inches
Urban Corridor: 2-5 inches
Eastern Plains: 3-6 inches
NWS has issued a Winter Weather Advisory for the Urban Corridor and Eastern Plains with a Blizzard Watch for the far eastern Plains on Monday.
As surface low develops in eastern CO strong northerly surface winds will develop Monday, especially east of I-25 with speeds of 25-50 mph. This will cause blowing and drifting snow issues.
For the Monday commute, expect periods of moderate to heavy snow Monday morning, so roads will be snow and ice packed along with reduced visibility in snow and blowing snow. Morning commute will be slow, so plan on extra time driving down the hill. Snow should end around Noon for the foothills and Urban Corridor, later farther east. Commute back up the hill should be better, although roads could still be slick in areas. Models then forecast strong northwest winds Monday night across the foothills, so we could see periods of blowing and drifting snow Monday night into Tuesday morning. Wind speeds look to be in the 30-55 mph range Monday night.
For Tuesday, snow moves back into the central and northern mountains with seval inches of new accumulation west of the Divide. For the foothills, mostly dry but breezy to windy, with stronger winds Tuesday night of 30-60 mph, so the potential for more blowing and drifting snow. Similar picture for Wednesday.
Next system will move down from the Paciic Northwest into CO on Wednesday night into Thursday. Snow begins in the northern Mountains late Wednesday and spreads south on Thursday into the foothills and Plains. Currently looks like only a few inches for the foothills and Plains.
The current pattern looks reptitive, so Friday and Saturday have more snow in the mountains west of the Divide, dry and breezy for the foothiills, then next system on tap for Sunday. In general, CO will see frequent snow and below normal temps for the next 7 days, with periods of strong westerly winds in the foothills.
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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!!
