12:15 PM MDT, Monday, April 8, 2019

Despite the warm weather today and tomorrow (maybe even near record warm tomorrow), anyone who has lived along the Front Range for a while knows that winter often makes a few encore performances during the Spring season. A shift to colder and wetter weather is on track for Wednesday and Wednesday night. The shift will likely be accompanied by a strong surface cyclone Wednesday afternoon and evening that should cause strong north winds on the plains.

Thunder, rain, and snow

This could be a situation with a foot of snow in the mountains, especially north of I-70, with lesser amounts as a go below 8000 feet due to more rain at the start.

For plains the snow potential is highly uncertain. Right now it appears the location of the storm will result in mainly north winds, rather than northeastly. In those situations the areas right along the foothills (eastern Larimer and Boulder counties and the west side of Denver) will often see the precipitation shift east soon after the changeover to snow resulting in only minor accumulation. But a slight error in the storm track forecast can make a difference.

So here is the synopsis for now:

Showers and thunderstorms develop Wednesday and change to snow in the late afternoon. Strong north winds develop during the afternoon, especially east of I-25. Accumulation potential in the lower elevation ranges from 2-8 inches. Travel may be difficult east of Denver Wednesday night (I-70 and I-76), and if you are travelling through DIA bring a good book.