Another wet storm system is heading for the Front Range region Sunday evening through Monday. But Saturday will be a warm, dry day, perhaps the warmest so far this Spring. Temperatures are likely to top 80 in most low elevation locations.

Sunday may start out mild and dry, but a cooling trend is expected by afternoon, with showers and thunderstorms developing. Sunday night and Monday are looking like a mainly cloudy and wet period. As with the storm earlier this week, elevation will make a big difference in rain versus snow. It appears at this point that it will be mainly or all rain below 6000 feet, mainly or all snow about 8000 feet, and a mix of both in the foothills with more trend toward snow with time. The potential exists for over a foot of snow in the high elevations (above treeline) and an inch of rain in the lower elevations. Warm weather is likely to return in the second half of next week.

12:30 PM MDT, Monday, April 26, 2021

A wet spring storm is forecast to move through the Front Range region Tuesday afternoon and night, possibly lingering into Wednesday morning. Depending on location and elevation, the region should see rain, snow, thunder, and maybe some hail.

Elevation will be a big factor for rain versus snow this time around. Above 8000 feet the precipitation should be mostly or all snow, with 7-14 inches.

In the 6000-8000 elevation range there will probably be a transition from rain to snow, with some areas only getting and inch or two of snow, and other areas in the 6-8 inch range.

Below 6000 feet it looks like mostly or all rain, but some areas could see a change to snow by Wednesday morning with minor accumulation (an inch or two) in grassy areas. There could also be some thunderstorms with brief heavy rain and hail Tuesday afternoon. Overall, it looks like many areas will get about 1/2 to 1 inch of liquid, but where there are local heavy thunderstorms, there could be around 2 inches of liquid for the storm.

Warm spring weather should return by the end of the week.

5AM MDT, Wednesday, 21 April 2021

Major amounts of rain or snow are not expected for the remainder of the week, but cloudy periods with some light amounts of precipitation are likely. Then the weekend is looking warmer and drier, with lower elevation temperatures in the 60s Saturday, and 70s Sunday and Monday.

For today and tonight, some intermittent light snow is possible. Most areas will probably not see any accumulation, and where it does accumulate, it will probably be an inch of two. Thursday and Friday should see more breaks in the clouds, but a scattering of showers is likely in the afternoon/evening, probably rain lower elevations and snow higher up. Again, no significant amounts are expected. A trend toward less cold should be evident by Friday.

12:30 PM MDT, Sunday, April 18, 2021

A strong cold front on Monday will put an end to our brief warm-up, and snow will likely develop Monday afternoon and continue into the evening. The cold front will likely be through Cheyenne by morning. Farther south along the Colorado Front Range, the morning may start mild, but the day will turn colder. A roughly 12-hour period of snow (maybe a little rain at the start in the lower elevations) is likely to develop in the afternoon, early-to-mid afternoon in southeastern Wyoming, late afternoon farther south in metro Denver. There will probably be about 1-4 hours of heavy snow from some east-west oriented bands that move north-to-south. Snow should be over by Tuesday morning, but temperatures by Tuesday morning are likely to be the coldest of the month, teens to around 20 in the urban corridor.

Accumulation below 6500 feet: mainly 3-6″. Being close to the foothills is not necessarily where the highest amounts will be. It’s more dependent on where the east-west bands are at their peak strength.

Accumulation above 6500 feet: 5-10 inches, again this is somewhat dependent on where the bands of heavy snow set up.

Beyond Tuesday:

I’d like to say that this long duration cool spell will end, and I expect that it will end by the weekend. But another weak storm at midweek is likely to bring some more precipitation and extend the colder-than-average stretch into Thursday.

3PM MDT, Friday, April 16, 2021

The main part of the western storm that has kept us cold and cloudy for days has moved east, but a part of it is left behind and won’t be east of us until later on Saturday. So we should continue colder than average with cloudy periods and some flurries or light snow. Accumulation should be minor, if any. It does look like Saturday should have some breaks in the cloud cover and temperatures pushing into the 40s in the lower elevations.

Sunday will be the mild day of the weekend ahead of the next cold front. Monday is likely to turn colder with snow developing from north to south. It looks like this could be another significant snowfall with around 6 inches in parts of the urban corridor. But more on that as we get closer. One thing to note is that despite our long stretch of cold days, we have not seen record levels. Monday’s cold front has the potential to be colder than this recent stretch, possibly getting into the teens Tuesday morning in the lower elevations.

12:30 PM MDT, Wednesday, April 14, 2021

Our cold and unsettled weather will likely continue into Saturday. However, the period with a risk of significant snow accumulation looks like late Thursday and Thursday night. A large storm system over the western United States has been keeping us in this cool and cloudy weather, and a big piece of the storm system will start to move eastward across the Rockies on Thursday.

Initial precipitation Thursday afternoon could be rain or mixed in the lower elevations, then snow late Thursday afternoon and into the night. There could be some brief periods of moderate or heavy snow. By Friday morning the general accumulations in the lower elevations will probably be in the range of 3-6 inches, with 5-10 inches above 7000 feet.

Period of clouds and maybe some more flurries or light snow could linger into Saturday, but accumulations after Friday morning are likely to be minor.

5 AM MDT, Monday, April 12, 2021

As advertised, the cooling trend began on Sunday and colder than average weather is likely to continue into the coming weekend. Beginning this evening we are also likely to see intervals of low clouds and wet snow (maybe a bit of rain in the lower elevations).

The first chance for precipitation is tonight. Snow accumulations should be minor, if any, and mainly limited to grassy areas. Tuesday evening into Wednesday morning will probably bring a better chance for snow accumulation. During that period there could be around 4-8 inches in places like Nederland and Estes Park, and 1-4 inches in the lower elevations. And there will probably be at least one more period of snow before the end of the week.

12:30 PM MDT, Friday, April 9, 2021

Saturday is shaping up to be the warmer day of the weekend. By Sunday a cooling trend will set in, although it still looks mainly dry. But the pattern shaping up may bring us a full week of below-average temperature and at last one chance for widespread wet snow. It’s hard to say at this point when it will snow and which days may be coldest. Right now it looks like Sunday and Monday will be mainly dry and cooler, but colder and wetter weather may move in toward midweek. Well, if you lived in these parts for any length of time, you know that’s April in the Rockies.

6AM MDT, Tuesday, April 6, 2021

Cooler weather and a weak storm system will likely result in some clouds and a scattering of showers later today. It’s possible that a few of those showers might be strong enough to produce some lightning and thunder. Showers that are still in the area tonight may change to snow. Overall, many parts of the urban corridor will get by with little or no precipitation. But a subset of the area may see a brief heavy shower this afternoon and/or enough snow to whiten grassy areas tonight.

Mild weather should return by Thursday followed by another brief spell of colder weather on Friday.