As discussed in yesterday's snowfall forecast, we anticipated snowbanding to deliver heavy snowfall to parts of the Front Range, and that did indeed end up being the case. The recap: Here are totals through 7am: Here are other totals, through mid-Saturday that have arrived: The History: For Denver officially, the 6am report is 6.3" which makes this the 3rd biggest April snow storm in a decade. In the past ten years, the highest storm totals for DIA are April 16/17th, 2016 at 12.1" and April

A cold front swept through the region (swept, odd we use that word for this phenomenon) last night and many of us woke to fog and some icy accumulation on our patios. For the next few days, a wintry mix remains possible, and even some snow accumulation by Saturday morning. Let's set the stage with an hourly planner for both temperatures and precipitation for Denver. See the temperatures top out in the middle 40s for us today, then into the lower 50s for Friday, and back into the 40s for Saturd

Sure, you could see a shower pass by today, but the odds are not overwhelming. Once this little disturbance passes us, we are in for quite a warming trend the remainder of the week into the weekend, when we could have our first 80-degree day of the year so far. Here's a quick timeline of both temperatures and rain chances: Notice the rain chances are pretty much just this afternoon into the evening. Here's a look at the hourly showers across the state until midnight. With that, there will be

The wind event continues across the state, particularly the Northern Front Range and the Eastern Plains; wind warnings continue through noon and 6 pm, respectively. As the wind event calms, we focus on cloud cover for Monday's partial eclipse viewing. First, the wind. Here are the Sunday morning observations from the weather service - some of which topped 90 mph! Source: https://x.com/NWSBoulder/status/1776987187495522627 Image: The wind threat continues through the day but does calm progres

As we settle down after a busy weekend, know that Monday will be impacted by the weather. Those returning to the metro areas from the mountains will have snow to drive through Monday and that will turn into chances of rain and snow as they move from the foothills into the city. Let's kick off this blog's images with an hourly planner for Denver's temperatures and chances for precipitation. First, notice that temperatures hardly budge on Monday, staying mostly in the lower 40s. Tuesday into Wedn

A potent, and quick-hitting system will arrive later today and deliver a wallop of snowfall to some locations. No, not like the big storm a little over a week ago, but enough to be a pain for drivers on Sunday evening when returning from spring break or kicking off their vacation. This will also leave a mess for some of the commuters Monday morning. Keep an ear tuned in...you may hear some thunder as this rolls through. (Thunder, indicating convection, means we could create some small pockets of

Things are going to melt quickly, but we have a lot to melt. Let's start with a look at snowfall reports from this latest storm, and then we will look at the warming temperatures for the week ahead. First, snowfall reports and observations were compiled for the following maps, and for some locations this was the first double-digit snowfall in a long time. From a previous post this week [https://www.weather5280.com/2024/03/13/significant-snowstorm-on-the-way-for-denver-area-feet-of-snow-likely-

Data analyzed Monday night through Tuesday morning has been... impressive to say the least. A significant storm continues to keep Colorado in its sight, and for Denver, this remains a consequential storm to watch. Speaking of "watch," the Weather Service issued one for the Denver metro areas, Palmer Divide, and Front Range Mountains. Warnings and Ad

We have some changes afoot, arriving a little Wednesday but mostly Thursday into Friday morning with the arrival of wintry weather for the metro areas and the state. A quick look at the hourly planner makes things look interesting soon: Warm temperatures erode into a cool day Friday with rain and snow in between. Here are some snapshots covering the next 48 hours. These will show you when and where to look for rain and snow. From those images, you can see the line of deepest blues that dev

There's a system set to arrive in the metro areas overnight through Tuesday, meanwhile the mountains are cashing in on snow from that system Monday. Meanwhile, Denver hits the 60s with this wind Monday prior to see a downhill trend all day Tuesday. Starting with the hourly temperatures, you'll see that downhill slide all of Tuesday. Although Monday is warm, that wind has a bit of a bite to it. While temperatures cool off Tuesday, more of that wind chill will be a factor. I certainly hope fires

No, I'm not implying that 60s should be considered rare in February, but my point with the headline is that this week looks very mild for February, with all daily high temperatures coming in at or well above average through next weekend. Don't take this to mean the weather will be quiet, however, as we will have a chance for rain (yes, rain in February - we saw this last week, too) and snow in the metro this workweek. Many Februarys have been mild, with lots of 60s included. Here is a list of

A warm Tuesday is underway, occasionally breezy, but have you seen the additional cloud cover where you are? That's the next system, increasing moisture ahead of putting down heavy snow in parts of the mountains Wednesday and then rain and snow to parts of the plains. There is also a weekend system to put on your radar. Let's start with the near term. Here's an hourly planner for Denver going out 72 hours. Wednesday has the potential to be a touch warmer than Tuesday, but we see the chance for

February’s weather pattern has a chance to deliver lots of moisture for the Front Range and Plains. If you reread that sentence, you’ll see, “chance.” This El Niño winter has had moments of delivering lots of snow to the state – think back to the epic two weeks of snow for our Colorado resorts, especially Steamboat Resort (third snowiest January since 08/09 season) [https://www.instagram.com/p/C2is1jEgfMv/?utm_source=ig_embed&ig_rid=0846d993-9761-4a7a-9e95-14e308dee

We aren't going to rival the stretch of cold of 1983, but the next three days may end up somewhere in the top 30 of coldest three day stretches. The average high through Monday will be near 4 degrees is all! This list is of the coldest average high temperature of three day periods. If we truly average about 4 degrees, that puts Denver Area at the 25th coldest three day stretch on record. As of this post, Denver low temperature for today is -12 degrees, which is warmer than the -20 degree recor

We are almost to the weekend, and if you are a skier and plan to be on the hills, you'll see some freshies. If you aren't leaving the metro areas, you too have a chance of some snow. Here's a quick animation that shows areas of snow during the weekend. The images for Sunday are what catch my attention, with those deep blues indicating heavy snow over the mountains - a place desperately needing snow. A recent post about just that -> Snowpack numbers are dismal across Colorado and the West, wi

Colorado Springs is setting itself up to be snowier than Denver by this time tomorrow. A strong system, which we've discussed in the past few days, is headed through with its biggest impact on Southern Colorado. For the rest of Wednesday in Denver: Look for continued low cloudiness and areas of fog. Mist/light rain is possible along with some snow from the late afternoon through the evening. Some roads may become slick, but overall not much of a chance to use snow shovels with this system. Fo

There's a rapid change about to move across Colorado and right through the metro areas Friday. You'll notice wind, a sharp drop in temperatures and many of us will see some snow to add potential icing to roads in time for us to start the weekend. Out of all elements, I think wind and the temperature change will be the takeaway. Snowfall, remains hit and miss for much of the metro areas with this one...but still a threat and a threat to roads before we get the day done Friday. So, when does this

December is upon us and the first week looks anything but wintry for much of the Front Range and Plains. The snowpack certainly isn't looking very good at the moment but the season is early and we shall see some progress in parts of the West this month. The snowpack to close out November is shown here, lots of red and orange on that map for well-below normal snowpack. In order to recover, a negative-phased Arctic Oscillation can help give snow to the Central and Northern Rockies. Although we m

There are two main disturbances that will impact the weather across Colorado, including travel impacts in Denver, through Thanksgiving Week with the first hitting now through Monday. The first system has some alerts in place, so let's begin there. Isolated impacts expected in the mountains, most of which focus on the San Juans. Let's watch as the forecast radar shows us where and when to expect some precipitation. Then, just an hourly timeline for Denver's precipitation chances shows chances

So far, November has been pretty quiet following the Halloween Weekend snow, but we will see a more active finish to the month across the region starting in waves this week into next. For the Denver Area, the month to date is 16th warmest and 16th driest (period of record starts in 1872). The city has only recorded a trace of precipitation to this point. If you look at historic patterns when the atmosphere was acting like it is now, they all lean toward colder shots of air from Canada making t

Enjoy the 70s of Tuesday, Denver will be in the 40s for highs Wednesday with a cool-hitter on the way that will deliver areas of heavy snow and travel issues to some of the mountains. To start, here's the hourly planner for Denver and Colorado Springs, note the drop in temperatures tomorrow with increased chances for precipitation. DenverColorado SpringsYes, you will feel cooler temperatures Wednesday morning, but the biggest "feel" difference will be that we just can't warm-up for the day, or

> 9am Fort Collins. Some light snowfall accumulation overnight. #cowx @BianchiWeather @MattMakens @weather5280 @CReppWx pic.twitter.com/sNC2waQHcq — Howard Gebhart (@GebhartHoward) October 28, 20

A freeze warning has been issued for the state's metro areas and Plains for Friday overnight into Saturday morning including Colorado Springs, Denver, Fort Collins, and Pueblo. The specifics of the warning from NWS-Boulder: > ...FREEZE WARNING IN EFFECT FROM MIDNIGHT TONIGHT TO 9 AM MDT SATURDAY... * WHAT...Sub-freezing temperatures as low as 25 expected. * WHERE...Portions of north central and northeast Colorado including   Denver, Boulder, Sterling, Julesburg, Akron. * WHEN...From midnight

With highs in the mid-50s, this is the coldest Denver has been since early May. We may well see our first freeze of the season officially at DIA but a lot of us will hit the freezing mark while the high country sees its first "substantial" snow in months. First, let's address the overall impact of this winter-like system. Those in Wyoming have the highest impact from cold, precipitation and wind. Along those lines, let's see where the snow will be falling, and how much. We have anxious eyes on

As of this writing, we have a few hours before significant change blows across Colorado. First, wind will increase fire dangers and the annoyance factor before temperatures drop dramatically and then some of us will see snow and/or rain showers before the first hard freeze of the season for some places. Let's get to the impact map to sort out areas of greatest change. The winter weather advisory for the high country is issued by the NWS with the following details: > WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY RE

There's a temperature drop on the way to much of Colorado this week, and for Denver we will go from the 80s Monday to the 60s Tuesday through the end of the week. Parts of the area could have their first frost of the season. What's driving this cool off? A strong trough over the West will head toward Wyoming and be a glancing blow to Colorado, with cooler temperatures and some showers. This animation shows the progression of that trough (blue shades). Although there will be isolated to scatter

We are almost to the weekend, and the weather will cooperate for a lot of your plans. Do keep in mind that we will see chances for thunderstorms increase throughout the weekend, particularly southern Colorado and parts of the high country that will have some rain and snow. I'll have some snow and rainfall data here in a moment. For Denver, overall a quiet pattern continues. Here's a planner for the next three days. So, for Denver the trend is pretty darn quiet. There will be activity reaching

Fall is in the air... as my family and I camped this weekend we woke up to frost and noticed the changing aspen leaves. So, where's the cold and snow? Some of our peaks caught snow this past week and will have a few flakes again this week but by-in-large we are not seeing significant snow as we draw to a close on this September. The main driver of the weather this week will be a strong low-pressure area sitting over the Northeast Pacific Ocean. This will draw lots of moisture in over the Pacifi

Feels like fall today, cloudy and light rain at our headquarters with football on the tv so that must mean that fall is in the air. For the week ahead, Denver and the Front Range will be considerably cooler with 60s and 70s versus the 80s and 90s, which will be 5 to 15 degrees cooler than normal from day to day this week. No, that low of 48 for Saturday isn't the first of the "season," we've had a couple temperatures that cool in the past month. The last time the city had a high temperature i

Earlier this year, we were still in the grip of La Niña, but from April through August, we saw a transition toward El Niño. El Niño began to develop in the spring and by summer had a more powerful grip on the atmosphere. There are multiple ways of measuring how strong the grip is, whether that be in the atmosphere, ocean or a combination of those two. The atmosphere's behavior is shown here, by one such metric called the SOI, where positive values are La Niña characteristics and negative valu