About 5 inches of snow last night on Conifer Mtn, most of it right as arctic front passed. Arctic air firmly in place with temp of -11 F currently, so I would not expect more than another 1/2 to 1 inch of additional accumulation today. Snow should end by this afternoon with very cold temps tonight, likely in the -10 to -20 range most foothill locations.
Warmer and drier weather in our extended forecast.
Breezy and mild conditions today will give way to our next arctic blast. Arctic front should move down from the north over CO Monday night, sometime between midnight and 4 am. Good upslope flow will develop behind front and bring snow, fog and colder temps just in time for the Tuesday morning commute, which should be very ugly. Heaviest snow will occur just after frontal passage, so between 4 am and 10 am Tuesday. Light snow should continue most of Tuesday afternoon and stop sometime Tuesday evening between 6 pm and 10 pm. NWS has issued a Winter Weather Advisory from 11 pm Monday night through 5 pm Tuesday, with snow amounts between 5-12 inches for the foothills. I'm not quite on board with these amounts yet. I think 3-6 inches will fall between 4 am and 10 am Tuesday, but then only another 1-2 inches the rest of the day on Tuesday. I could see only 1-3 inches in less favored areas like the banana belt and Urban Corridor. There is some upper level support from an upper trough, so amounts could be as high as NWS forecast, but recent history with our past arctic fronts this year has yielded less snow than models have predicted, so I am inclined to go with lower amounts, but I would take precautions based on the higher amounts. In any event, snow will be heavy at times Tuesday morning accompanied by northeast winds of 15-30 mph, causing blizzard conditions at times. A good day to work from home if that is an option for you. Nearly all of CO will be under some winter advisory or warning Tuesday, with Winter Storm Warnings for areas west of the Divide, and Winter Weather Advisories for the remainder of CO to the east. Travel will be difficult wherever you are on Tuesday, so best to stay off the roads if possible.
Temps will drop all day Tuesday as arctic air filters into CO, so high temp will be near midnight tonight, with temps in the single digits by Tuesday afternoon. Low temps Tuesday night in the 0 to -15 range most areas. Temps rebound some on Wednesday with high temps in the teens to low 20's.
Long range models continue to suggest a big change in the upper level pattern later this week and into next week. Upper ridge that has dominated the picture in the eastern Pacific will slowly migrate eastward across the western US and into the central US by next week. This will allow Pacific storms to once again affect the West Coast by this weekend. For CO, this means warmer temps and dry conditions east of the Divide, with some snow west of the Divide by this weekend and into next week. Foothills look dry and mild for the next 7-10 days after our snow Tuesday.
Too bad future generations aren't here to see all the great things we are spending their $$ on!!
