Denver Weather: Spring Storm Set To Bring Snow Starting Late Thursday

DENVER (CBS4) - After reaching near 70 degrees in the Denver metro area on Wednesday, temperatures will struggle to stay above freezing during the afternoon on Thursday. Fog and drizzle is likely in the morning followed by snow showers developing later in the day.

Most neighborhoods along the Front Range will be about 40 degrees colder Thursday afternoon compared to Wednesday afternoon. In many cases, mountain towns will be at least a few degrees warmer than Denver thanks to the shallow nature of the cold front that passes Wednesday evening.

Thursday night temperatures will resemble a typical January overnight with lows in the teens around Denver, Boulder and Fort Collins.

In terms of the snow, most of the urban corridor will see nothing more than drizzle through early afternoon Thursday. Then snow showers will gradually spread from the mountains to the urban corridor during the afternoon and especially after 4 p.m. Then most of the snow will wrap up by midnight but lingering snow showers could continue until before sunrise on Friday.

Most locations around Denver, Boulder, and Fort Collins will get no more than 1-2 inches of snow. Areas above 6,000 feet in Douglas and Elbert Counties (the Palmer Divide) could see up to 4 inches. The same goes for the foothills of Jefferson, Boulder, and Larimer Counties. The northern mountains including the Rocky Moutnain Naitonal Park regions will get 4-8 inches. Summit County should get less than 4 inches.

Friday will be a mainly dry day but also quite chilly with highs only in the lower and middle 40s. That's more than 15 degrees below normal for early April in Denver. Warmer weather will gradually return this weekend and it will feel like spring again on Sunday with highs approaching 70 degrees again.