DENVER — Denver’s next snow chance arrives late Thursday into Friday bringing the possibility of a couple inches of accumulation or more while portions of Colorado’s mountain communities could see nearly a foot of powder by the weekend.
The Denver metro area is not under a winter weather alert, but a winter storm watch will go into effect starting Thursday morning for Colorado’s northern and central mountains.
After mild weather conditions in Denver on Wednesday, the next storm system will arrive in the metro first bringing a chance of rain on Thursday morning.
“We may see some wet roads early for the Thursday morning drive that will then clear up a bit and shift off to the east before we get another round moving in for the Thursday evening commute,” said Denver7 Meteorologist Lisa Hidalgo. “Likely just wet roads at that point, but we may see some slushy conditions down south along the Palmer Divide.”
Overnight into early Friday is when Denver should see most of the accumulating snow. As of Wednesday, Denver’s potential snow totals by Friday afternoon could range between 2 and 4 inches, according to Hidalgo.
“We’re going to see most of our heavy snow through the northern Front Range mountains and the foothills west of Denver, Boulder and Fort Collins on Thursday late afternoon through Friday morning where we could pick up a good 6 to 12 inches through parts of Rocky Mountain National Park and Summit County will pick up some decent snow at the ski resorts.”
The winter storm watch for Colorado’s higher elevations goes into effect starting at 11 a.m. Thursday through at least 5 p.m. on Friday.
Heavy snow could make for difficult travel conditions through mountain passes and highways, according to the National Weather Service (NWS) in Boulder.
Portions of Jackson, Larimer, Grand, Boulder, Gilpin, Clear Creek, Summit, Park and Douglas Counties are included in the winter storm watch.The NWS said in these communities “travel could be very difficult. The hazardous conditions could impact the Thursday evening and Friday morning commutes.”
A winter weather advisory will also go into effect Thursday morning through Friday morning for Colorado's far northeastern counties for between 1 and 4 inches of snow, with the potential of up to 6 inches of "heavy wet snow" in some areas, according to the NWS
Check the latest Colorado winter weather alerts.
Thursday through Friday, Colorado’s plains could see between 1 and 4 inches of snow totals while the Palmer Divide could see snow accumulations ranging between 3 and 5 inches, according to the NWS.
“It’s not going to be a huge storm but it may be enough of a disruption to cause you a little bit of a headache Friday morning with about 2 to 4 inches of snow possible at lower elevations,” added Denver7 Chief Meteorologist Mike Nelson on the impact to the Denver metro area.
Denver’s high temperature will slide to 45 degrees Thursday to 32 degrees on Friday. Denver’s morning low temperatures on Friday morning will be around 25 degrees and then 22 degrees Saturday morning.
The good news is the storm system quickly rolls out of Colorado leaving behind a beautiful weekend for any outdoor plans.
Denver’s weather on Saturday shows clearing skies and a high temp of 50 degrees while Sunday warms up to nearly 60 degrees with sunny skies.
Denver's snowfall totals so far this winter season have lagged behind the normal totals, but blasts of snow in February have helped the metro rebound.
In February, Denver's official snow reporting station at Denver International Airport recorded 13.7 inches, which is above the 7.8 inches the city normally reports in February. That additional snowfall brought Denver to around 5 inches behind the normal cumulative total for this time in the winter season.
To view the Denver snowfall statistics infographics in fullscreen mode click this link.
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