Denver Weather: Tired Of Snow? Tired Of Cold? Friday And Saturday Are For You

DENVER (CBS4) - For only the sixth day this month, temperatures will manage to climb above normal Friday and Saturday. Highs will reach at least the lower 50s in the Denver metro area both days with zero chance for snow. It will also be sunny and relatively mild in the mountains.

During the 20 days completed so far this month, the average temperature has been 25 degrees, which is cold enough to currently rank February 2020 as the 10th coldest in Denver since 1874. The month is also tied with February 1953 for the 11th snowiest on record.

So the weather on Friday and Saturday will be undoubtedly different than what has been experienced most of this month. Highs on Friday will reach the lower 50s along the Front Range and lower 40s for many mountain towns. It will be a short-lived preview of spring.

Saturday should be a couple degrees warmer than Friday especially in areas where there is significant snowmelt on Friday. The presence of snow (or actually melting snow) keeps temperatures colder than they would otherwise be.

Winter weather quickly returns to Colorado Saturday night into Sunday as a storm ejecting out of southern California moves into Colorado. The storm should setup over southeast Colorado on Sunday, which is the ideal location for snow in the Denver metro area.

But while the chance for snow on Sunday is extremely high, confidence about accumulation is low. As of Friday morning, the various weather models are in significant disagreement about how much snow will accumulate. Generally speaking, at this time we expect 1-2 inches in the Denver metro area with 2-5 inches in the mountains. The European model shown below probably has the best handle on snowfall amounts.

However, there are some other models, such as the RPM model displayed below, that have significantly higher accumulation in areas such as the Palmer Divide in Douglas and Elbert Counties. If the RPM model is correct, locations above 6,000 feet south of Denver could get more than 6 inches of snow.

Regardless of accumulation, everyone along the Front Range is virtually guaranteed to see snow on Sunday followed by flurries on Monday and another chance for accumulating snow on Tuesday.