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Smooth Sailing Till Christmas Night

By Dave Aguilera

DENVER (CBS4) - Eastern Colorado has a mild mannered lead into Christmas Eve. With passing clouds temperatures will be popping into the 40s for the eastern plains both Sunday and Monday. There will be snow developing late on Sunday into Christmas Eve day.

There is an Advisory for snow in the northern and central Mountains for Monday.

We are still watching a storm system that could have a major travel impact on travel Christmas night through Thursday in the mountains and part of the eastern plains.

At this point, weather models are showing a weaker impact on Denver and the Front Range than model runs of the last few days.

The storm system will be a deep cut-off low which is still well out in the Pacific just east of Hawaii. It is forecast to dig into southern California and work its way across Arizona Monday into Tuesday. This will enhance snowfall in Colorado's mountains and west.

Late on Christmas night the storm system will begin to track into New Mexico and has the potential to produce several inches of snow from the Rockies out over the central plains.

The exact track of the storm can still change as we are still more than 48 hours out. If the low pushes across northern New Mexico and sets up over the panhandle of Oklahoma this will be a favorable spot for Denver to see more snowfall.

If the storm sets up further south over Albuquerque that would be more favorable for the heavier snow to be from Colorado Springs into southern parts of the state. That would be the famous Albuquerque Low.

A third possibility also exists. This would take the low into western Kansas. So further north. That would bring heavier snow over SE Wyoming into Nebraska and South Dakota. At this point it looks like this may be the most likely scenario. This would bring snow in Denver in the 2 to 5 inch range Wednesday into Thursday. This is subject to change though.

There is a Winter Storm Watch For Tuesday into Wednesday for this storm. I suspect this watch may be expanded into the northern and central mountains as well.

At this point plan for snow across eastern Colorado late Christmas night into Friday.

 

Meteorologist Dave Aguilera is a Colorado native and has been forecasting weather in the Rocky Mountain region for over 25 years! Connect with Dave on Facebook and on Twitter @DaveAgCBS.

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