The global long wave pattern has shifted, with an upper level ridge now over the Eastern US bringing record warmth, and a long wave trough now over the Western US. Large and deep upper level low will slide down the west coast on Saturday, and then eject northeastward across CO Saturday night into Sunday. This will bring a newr surge of snow to the CO mountains west of the Divide beginning Saturday morning, with moisture pushing east during the day. Snow level will being around 8000 ft Saturday lowering to 6000 ft by Saturday night in the high country.
For the foothills, breezy to windy conditions today into Saturday with snow chances increasing Saturday afternoon and night. Snow level to begin around 7000-8000 ft Saturday afternoon, lowering to 5000-6000 ft by Sunday morning. Models currently predict light amounts, so I woudl expect a trace to and inch at lower elevations, and maybe 1-3 inches at higher elavations between Saturday afternoon and Sunday afternoon. Snow flurries remain possible Sunday, but would not expect much if any additional accumulation during the day. Snow will cotninue in teh mountains on Sunday. NWS has a WInter Storm Watch in effect for most of CO west of the Divide for Saturday into Sunday. Travel across the moutains will be difficult over the weekend.
Long range models keep CO mostly dry the early part of next week, then bring another surge of Pacific moisture into western CO on Thursday, with that extending east by Friday and into next weekend.
The upper trough over the western US is forecast to remain in psoition for the next 7-14 days, so our current weather pattern will contiue to repeat over the next 2 weeks. This implies lots of snow for the CO mountains, with mostly breezy conditions with some snow for the foothills. One of these systems could dig into a more favored location for upslope snow, but too early to predict when, or if, that would occur. Lots of rain and snow for most areas of the western US in the extended forecast, so would expect to see some flooding and extreme mountain snows over favored areas like the Cascades, Sierras and Wasatch ranges. Areas of coastal CA will see 5-10 inches of rain over the next 7-10 days, with abnormally low snow levels of 1000-2000 ft.
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Too bad future generations aren't here to see all the great things we are spending their $$ on!!
