DENVER – The coldest temperatures of the season so far are in Denver’s weather forecast as a hard freeze is expected late Wednesday evening into Thursday morning.
The drastic change in temps will arrive as the urban corridor could see a light rain-snow mix Wednesday morning with a system that is triggering winter weather advisories for Colorado’s higher elevations.
“Not expecting any real accumulation here for the metro area,” said Denver7 weather forecaster Katie LaSalle. “It’ll be mainly our central and southern mountains that get hit the hardest, but it will get very cold across the Denver metro north to Colorado’s border as a freeze watch will take effect early Thursday.”
Ahead of Denver’s weather change starting Wednesday, Tuesday’s conditions will remain dry and breezy with high wind gusts possible for the metro and eastern plains.
“Depending on which side of the state you are on, it’s a very different weather pattern,” said LaSalle.
Travelers along I-70 should remain alert to changing conditions Tuesday.
“We’re seeing more widespread precipitation over the western slope impacting the I-70 drive, but right now it’s looking like wet roadways but you will find some snow falling and accumulating over higher terrain,” said LaSalle.
In its forecast discussion Tuesday morning, the National Weather Service (NWS) in Boulder wrote “there was consideration about the possible need for a snow squall warning over the Eisenhower Tunnel or Vail Pass but road temperatures should be warm enough to reduce the impact enough to where a warning is not needed.”
Strong winds will remain along the Front Range as temperatures drop into the 50s by late afternoon, early evening on Tuesday in Denver.
“Not a lot of moisture expected across the eastern half of the state with a little break in the mountains overnight but we’ll again see more snow move into the higher elevations Wednesday morning.”
Several Winter weather advisories are in place until noon on Wednesday in Colorado’s mountain communities for higher snow accumulations and strong wind gusts, according to the NWS.
Portions of the Eastern Sawatch, La Garita, Sierra Madre mountains are under the winter weather advisory where travel could become difficult.
Higher elevations under the winter weather advisories could see total snow accumulations of up to several inches, including up to 12 inches in these areas along the northwest San Juan, Gore, Elk, Grand, West Elk and Sawatch Mountain communities, said the NWS.
“So keep that in mind, it might be treacherous travel at times with areas of blowing snow,” added LaSalle.Aspen, Vail, Crested Butte, Telluride and Ouray, among other mountain communities, are also under a winter weather advisory until noon Wednesday.
While the Denver metro is not under a winter weather advisory for potential travel issues, the plunge in temperatures will trigger a freeze warning starting at 10 p.m. Wednesday through 9 a.m. on Thursday. The NWS upgraded the freeze watch to a warning as of early Tuesday afternoon.
Fort Collins, Boulder, Denver, Castle Rock, Greeley are included in the freeze warning where “sub-freezing temperatures between 22 and 28 degrees are expected,” said the NWS. “Frost and freeze conditions are expected to kill unprotected sensitive vegetation,”
Check latest Colorado winter weather alerts from Denver7 weather.
Ahead of the freeze warning, commuters in Denver on Wednesday morning will likely wake up to moisture.
By around 8 to 9 a.m. Wednesday in the metro, Denver7’s futurecast shows pockets of possible rain-snow mix.
The NWS said “some light accumulation of snow” is possible along Colorado’s Front Range and urban areas on Wednesday morning, but it likely won’t amount to much other than small accumulations on lawns and grassy areas.
Denver’s snowfall totals should range between a trace to .25”, according to NWS model consensus.
Here’s a look at a few potential Colorado snowfall totals by Wednesday evening:
- Copper Mountain: 3.2”
- Fairplay: 2.0”
- Bailey: 2.5”
- Idaho Springs: 3.0”
- Black Hawk: 2.8”
- Estes Park: 4.8”
- Red Feather Lakes: 1.7”
- Vail Pass: 3.0”
Following the freeze warning, temperatures in Denver on Halloween will warm back up only into the 50s.“For trick-or-treaters, during the afternoon it will warm into the mid to upper 50s but you definitely want to layer up with those costumes this Halloween.”
Denver’s high temperature swings back into the upper 60s with more sunshine on Friday and Saturday before increasing clouds return for Sunday where a high temp of only 53 degrees is expected ahead of another chance of rain and snow on Monday.
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