Denver Weather: Wet For Mother's Day Weekend, But Not A Wash Out!

DENVER (CBS4) - A storm system will crawl across Colorado starting Saturday bringing a lot of moisture back to the Front Range. The best chance for weekend showers will be in the afternoon and evening.

Before the storm arrives, Friday will be a very warm day with highs in the lower and middle 80s around Denver, Boulder, and Fort Collins. That is about 15-20 degrees above normal for early May.

Mountain areas will also be very mild on Friday with a 30% chance for showers and thunderstorms in the afternoon. The rain will try to move east into the metro area during the afternoon and evening but will be largely unsuccessful due to a lot of dry air at lower elevations. That said, it's still possible the Denver metro area could experience a brief gusty thunderstorm late Friday - the type of storm that produces wind, but not much rain.

As those storms move east, the wind could strengthen even more and there could be one or two severe thunderstorms on the Eastern Plains. Locations mainly east of La Junta, Limon, and Wiggins have been identified as having a "marginal" threat for severe weather Friday afternoon.

Looking ahead to Saturday, a 50% chance for mainly afternoon and evening showers and thunderstorms will develop along the Front Range. Then an even better chance for rain develops on Sunday.

High temperatures will gradually drop through the weekend with highs in the lower 70s in metro Denver on Saturday and lower 50s on Sunday.

Most of the rain on Mother's Day in the metro area should hold off until the afternoon. The chance for any rain before 12 p.m. is 30% or less. Then the chance jumps above 50% Sunday afternoon and stays high through Monday.

Since the storm system will be so slow to move across Colorado, Denver and the Front Range could easily more than an inch of rain again from Saturday through Tuesday.