Enjoy the first day of 2017, because it will be a nice one. High temperatures will return to the 40s and 50s for most areas of Eastern Colorado. Mountain locations will be cooler, but will see a classic blue bird day of skiing.

GFS Forecast High Temperatures for Sunday

Beyond Sunday, Monday is still looking pretty good. After that, MUCH colder air will ooze in from the north. The maps below show a temperature trend from the GFS Model, that keeps us cold all week.

Midday Monday Temperatures

Midday Tuesday Temperatures

Midday Wednesday Temperatures

Midday Thursday Temperatures

Midday Friday Temperatures

Midday Saturday Temperatures

Basically, the atmosphere is going to be locked into a pattern that keeps the cold air around for a while. What about snow?

GFS Model Upper Level Pattern Tuesday

GFS Model Upper Level Pattern Wednesday

GFS Model Upper Level Pattern Thursday

GFS Model Upper Level Pattern Friday

The upper level pattern will be VERY fast moving, and generally be oriented in an zonal (east to west) fashion. This is a pattern that largely benefits the mountains with the best snowfall. Farther east, it becomes less clear. That strong jet stream energy moving over the top of that cold air at lower levels is notorious for producing isolated to widely scattered bands of snow. Computer models struggle mightily with where and when those bands will occur (think back to the early half of December). There will also be embedded disturbances moving through the flow, which could enhance snow chances from time to time. Whatever snow we see east of the hills will likely occur mid to late week.

Wait? Why no snow map? Well, because models are all over the place with our snow potential east of the mountains. You know how we roll... there is no point showing you a graphic that may be highly erroneous. Just know that it is going to get cold after Monday, stay cold for the week, there will likely be some snow, and we'll be resolving details as they become more clear over the next days.

From all of us here at Weather5280, thank you for ALL of your support and have a very happy 2017!