2:30 PM MST, Thursday, December 28, 2017

Possible windstorm

Tonight and Friday may see some strong winds in the east slope foothills and maybe in some areas along the foothills like Boulder and Lakewood. The Chinook wind came in yesterday morning with a dramatic warm-up, but this morning the colder polar air to the east oozed back in and shut off the wind. Tonight the Chinook may succeed at pushing the cold air to the east again. It’s not certain that the wind will reach the surface all along the Front Range foothills, but where it does the gusts might exceed 70 mph. Other nearby areas might only have light and variable wind.

Return of the cold weather

The cold arctic air is not that far away and is likely to slide back in from the north and east this weekend. Its impact will be mainly from the mountains eastward. The far eastern plains of Colorado are likely to be cold all weekend. I think the Front Range urban corridor will be cold all weekend too. But Saturday is more questionable and there is a small chance that the Chinook pattern will keep it mild into Saturday.

The air is pretty dry and snow is unlikely, but we can’t yet rule out some clouds and minor amounts of snow with the return of the cold weather.