DENVER, Colo. -- After a few inches of fresh snow in the mountains, the skies will clear and the warm temperatures will quickly return. The Monday storm is now moving into the middle of the country, spreading rain from Minnesota south into Texas.

The entire state of Colorado woke up to sunshine, but very chilly temperatures. The mountains dipped to near zero early Tuesday morning. Temperatures in the metro area rebounded into the mid 40s during the afternoon.

The sunshine will stay in place through Friday. A ridge of high pressure will dominate the forecast, bringing warmer and drier weather to the state. Temperatures will be moderate, from the 40s on Tuesday to near 60 by Friday. Fair weather is expected for Thanksgiving Day and the big shopping day on Friday.

Most of the active weather will be passing to the north, following the jet stream pattern. By next weekend, the area will see slightly cooler temperatures, but the overall weather pattern will remain dry.

If you are traveling for Thanksgiving, you can get a custom forecast for your route from the 24/7 Weather Interns and meteorology students! We will have Meteorology students from Metro State College available to give you accurate and custom travel forecasts on Tuesday evening until 6:00 p.m. Just call us at 303.832.2557!