Denver Weather: Winter Storm Set To Arrive For The Tuesday Morning Commute

DENVER (CBS4) - The week will start relatively mild and dry for Colorado with mostly sunny in most areas on Monday. Then the weather will change fast through Monday night with the arrival of different cold fronts. The weather change has prompted us to declare Tuesday as a First Alert Weather Day to help you plan.

The first cold front arrives Monday afternoon will drop temperatures back a few degrees as compared to highs on Sunday. Instead of lower 50s around metro Denver like we had Sunday, we anticipate upper 40s to around 50 degrees with a gusty northeast wind at times.

Then a second cold front will arrive late Monday night. It will trigger a round of snow that should last through Tuesday morning and into at least the early afternoon. At this time, it appears Denver and the Front Range  will be in the heart of the snowstorm during the Tuesday morning commute with some residual impacts possible during the afternoon drive.

Total snowfall will vary  from west to east across the metro area which is often the case. Locations near the base of the foothills in Jefferson, Boulder, and Larimer counties should get at least 5 inches of snow. Locations farther east including around the airport should get less than 4 inches.

Statewide, the heaviest snow should be found in the higher foothills including around Baily, Evergreen, Black Hawk/Central City, Nederland, Ward, Estes Park, and Red Feather Lakes. These areas could see up to 8 inches of snow. There will probably be some areas in the San Juan and Sangre de Cristo Mountains in southern Colorado that get similar amounts.

The sky will clear out by late Tuesday night with very cold temperatures on the way. Most of the state will fall into the single digits and teens with some valleys falling to near or below zero in the mountains and on the eastern plains.

Then we'll see plenty of sunshine on Wednesday with afternoon temperatures recovering a bit. Then another fast-moving weather system will arrive on Thursday with slightly cooler air and the chance for a few light snow showers in the mountains. No snow is in the forecast in the Denver metro area beyond Tuesday evening.