Denver Weather: Chance For Snow, Chilly Temps In This Week's Forecast
DENVER (CBS4) - After a few sunny and mild days around the state we are back to chilly temps with a few chances for snow this week. The mountains will see snow today and tonight along with occasional gusty wind. There could be some bursts of moderate to heavy snow at times making for difficult travel, especially on the higher passes.
A few inches fell overnight in the high country with up to an additional foot of snow possible along and north of Interstate 70 over the next 24 hours. The Park Mountains around Steamboat Springs and the higher elevations of Rocky Mountain National Park will see the most snow. The totals on the map below indicate the potential for additional accumulation.
In Denver and on the eastern plains it should be a mostly cloudy Sunday but dry overall. We can't rule out a stray shower somewhere by tonight as a cold front approaches from the north.
That front will help kick up some areas of light snow by Monday night and that could last into the day on Tuesday. At this time we don't anticipate accumulations to be much more than an inch or two except in the higher terrain to the west and south of downtown Denver. But keep in mind it doesn't take much snow to make for a slow and slick drive. Plan ahead now that your Monday PM and Tuesday AM rush hours could feature winter driving conditions.
Another point to consider is while we are only expecting light accumulations, the trend so far this month has been for snow events to out-perform the computer forecast models. Weather patterns like we are in add an extra level of difficulty to the forecast because it's all about jet stream energy interacting with the terrain below, versus an area of low pressure at the surface that we track.
There could be another quick shot of snow on Wednesday as the weather pattern stays cool, moist and unsettled. Then it looks like a few days of drier and warmer weather will arrive between Thursday and Saturday before another chance for snow again early next week.