Denver Forecast: Hazy Start To Day, Breezy In Spots By Tonight

DENVER (CBS4) - The next several days will be a bit difficult to forecast, in terms of the temperature and cloud cover, for Denver and the eastern plains of Colorado due to the current upper air pattern. The picture is a bit more clear for the western side of the state.

A large trough of low pressure sitting over the northwestern United States will dominate the weather headline this week. Within that trough several smaller areas of energy will pinwheel through it. Each area of disturbed weather clips Colorado as they pass by.

Let's start with the easier forecast. Areas along and west of the Continental Divide will see occasional rounds of light snow with each passing system along with bouts of cloud cover and wind. The next round of snow is expected late Sunday night into early Monday. Accumulations will be light and there are currently no advisories, watches or warnings in effect.

The more complicated forecast is for areas in, along and east of the Front Range Foothills. Like western Colorado, we will also see some occasional cloud cover and wind over the next few days. There is even a chance for flurries or snow showers later in the week. But the difficultly lies in predicting temperature and visibility.

A combination of our terrain, surface wind patterns, snow cover on the ground and a cold pocket of air off to our north and east will mean wide swings in temperature over short distances this week. It may also mean off and on issues with visibility due to haze and low clouds. Don't get too caught up and exact conditions for any specific day in this 5-Day because the details will shift around a bit as we make new forecasts.

Extreme northeast Colorado has the highest chance to stay the coldest and see fog, flurries and even freezing drizzle at times as they will be closest to the arctic air over the upper midwest.

Now for something we are more confident about ... unless something changes with the upper air pattern we do not anticipate any significant storm systems with widespread travel issues to impact Colorado over the next 5 days. For the most part, temperatures should stay near or even below seasonal normals through the extended.