Denver Weather: The First Snow Of The Season Should Arrive Friday, 7 Weeks Late!

DENVER (CBS4) - Based on the latest weather models, confidence is increasing that Denver and much of Colorado's Front Range will finally get the first measurable snow of the season later this week.

Two storm systems on the West Coast will combine in the coming days and move east toward Colorado. The storm track should be favorable for upslope flow along the urban corridor and therefore snow around Denver, Boulder and Fort Collins Thursday night into Friday.

At this time, accumulation is expected to be light in the metro area with anywhere from a trace to 2 inches in most neighborhoods below 6,000 feet. Much higher amounts are expected in the mountains including 5 to 12 inches at most Colorado ski areas.

Looking at two longer ranger weather models, the GFS model generally has the highest snow totals but insist the Denver metro area should get no more than 2 inches while Boulder could get up to 3 inches.

The European model shows slightly higher amounts along the Front Range and somewhat lower snow totals for some mountain areas.

But both both models agree it will finally snow in Denver several days from the event which raises the confidence in the forecast.

Assuming the official snow stake for Denver located at Denver International Airport (DIA) gets at least 1/10th of an inch of snow on Friday, the no-snow streak will end at 232 days (through Thursday). That would be just shy of the record 235 days from 1887.

Regardless, it will certainly be the latest first snow of the season ever record in Denver. The average date for the first measurable snow in the city is October 18 so Friday's snow will be more than 7 weeks later than normal.

If snow somehow evades DIA, the next chance for any snow will be at least another week away with much warmer and drier weather returning over the weekend.