Snow possible Thursday for Denver metro area and urban corridor, likely in the high country

There's a system that will bring snow to the mountains Wednesday into Thursday and some of that snow will try to peel off the high country to cover parts of the urban corridor Thursday morning.

This event isn't likely to bring an impact to all areas but has a higher potential impact in the mountains and the foothills to the west and south of Denver. With any banded snowfall event, the exact placement of higher totals will be determined close to the event - should it occur.

We see the potential snow band setting up shop from Boulder County to the Palmer Divide, including parts of Jefferson, Douglas, and Elbert Counties. Perhaps El Paso County will be included too if the snow band should form and form closer to Colorado Springs.

We first saw the potential snow long ago in the global scale models. That signal continues, and we continue to see that potential in our Gamblers Charts as well - which come into focus up to three to five days in advance. Snow band events will bring low probabilities but extend those probabilities into the higher totals as shown here for the Palmer Divide:

Let's see the system evolve across the region from Wednesday into Thursday:

That animation shows snow in the high country and a rain/snow mix for the lower elevations. Rain is possible with this system as there isn't much cold air along for the ride.

Let's get specific about the timing of precipitation chances as well as temperatures. We'll work from the northern metro areas to the southern:

Fort Collins:

Denver:

Colorado Springs:

Note the differences in how likely the probabilities are between the locations. Again, a snow band (or rain if we don't cool enough) will impact a few areas but not all. Best chances at the moment again appear to be from about Boulder south through Colorado Springs and east.

With that said, this looks like a 0 to 3" type of event at this time, depending exactly if/where the band ends up you'll see nothing or potentially a quick 1 - 3" or so. Still plenty of disagreement on how much snow is able to make it off the mountains. A few models show a broad swath of 1 - 3", while others (like the GFS) show almost no snow at all east of the hills. This WPC outlook seems like a fine start, some potential especially west Denver and across the Palmer, but greatest confidence in totals confined to the high country. The area we're watching closest for the potential band of heavier snow Thursday morning is in pink:

What we are to work on overnight and Wednesday is to monitor our Gamblers Charts for changes in the position of a possible snow band and an eye on all other models to see if this event becomes more or less likely.

In any case, look for more information Wednesday as we update you on the changes, or if no changes we will be more specific on total impact.