After a long absence, snow will arrive overnight tonight in the Denver area and along the front range. For some, this is a welcome departure from the hot summer temperatures that we have experienced. Others aren’t so excited about the arrival of the cold and fluffy white stuff. Regardless of your feelings about it, snow will be here and we will actually be receiving quite a bit of it!
As always, the forecast will be broken down into a few different parts and they are as follows-
- National Weather Service Winter Storm Warning
- Storm Timing
- Accumulation Totals
National Weather Service Winter Storm Warning
...WINTER STORM WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM MIDNIGHT TONIGHT TO 3 PM MDT MONDAY... * WHAT...Heavy snow expected. Some secondary roads and bridges and overpasses may become snow or slush covered. Plan on slow and hazardous travel conditions, including during the morning commute on Monday. * WHERE...Fort Collins, Boulder, Denver and Castle Rock. * WHEN...Midnight to 3 PM Monday. * ADDITIONAL DETAILS...Scattered power outages may occur due to heavy wet snow accumulating on trees still bearing their leaves.
Storm Timing
Cold air is now funneling into Colorado following the passage of a recent cold front and rain will be arriving in the metro area late this evening. Current winds are from the northeast and are helping to bring some moisture into the area, but will transition to northerly winds as time passes. Rain will continue until shortly after midnight when it will transition to snow and will remain as snow through Monday afternoon. The most intense snowfall should occur immediately after the transition to snow and mid-morning from approximately 7-10am. So, give yourself some additional time for your morning commute because it is looking to be a sloppy one!
Accumulation Totals

HRRR Forecasted Snow Totals Through Monday at 3pm
This is shaping up to be a weak upslope storm which means that accumulation totals will be highest in the western parts of the metro area. Accumulations will be between 4-8″ with the slightly higher amounts falling near Boulder and east of the Denver area. While 4-8″ is a fairly substantial amount of snow, the soil and ground temperature is warm enough to melt most of it once it hits the ground. However, neighborhoods and side roads will probably have some light snow accumulation and slush. This will be a moisture laden and heavy snow that will have the possibility of breaking tree branches that have leaves.
As always, let me know if you have any questions!
Thank you for reading!
-Andrew
I took a few meteorology classes when I was over in the aviation department at MSU and reading your post brings back fond memories for me 😊 I really appreciate your thorough forecast and explanation of what the weather will look like tomorrow! Can’t say that I’m too enthused about having to drive in the snow though, haha 😛
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Hi man! Sorry about the late reply. I’m glad that you like the forecasts though!
Who were your met teachers at MSUD? Chances are that I know them! Good luck on studying to do ATC, I have a couple friends that went that route and they’re from metro as well. One of my biggest criticisms of MSUD was that they need to have the met and aviation departments working closer together. I think it would really benefit both sides. There’s a ton of met work in the world that is exclusively aviation and, while it’s acknowledged, Metro doesn’t really talk about it too much.
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