DENVER -- May 16-18, 2008 The weather pattern is shifting across the western United States and will bring back some warm, dry conditions for several days. The upper level winds have been blowing down from the northwest across the Rockies for the last week, swirling several fast moving cold fronts through Colorado. The result has been the rain and snow and the rather chilly temperatures.

Over the weekend, the jetstream will shift to the northeast of Colorado, allowing warmer and drier air to build into the region from the southwest. The weather will warm back into the 80s at lower elevations, with upper 60s to mid 70s in the mountains. The sunshine and warmth will be welcome for folks that have grown weary of the cool, wet weather. Although the chilly weather has not been very enjoyable for many, the benefit of the cool conditions has been two-fold, slowing the snowmelt in the mountains and keeping the fire danger down for a few days. The warmer weather will feel great, but the flood and fire concerns will return.

The warm and dry pattern will last through Monday, before a new storm system begins to form in the eastern Pacific and move into the southwestern states next Tuesday. Showers and thunderstorms will return to our weather picture starting late Tuesday of next week and continuing through Wednesday and Thursday. In the meantime, have a great weekend!

May 15, 2008 The weather pattern has been fast paced and a little flaky over Colorado for the past few days with periods of rain and snow. Another fast moving cold front has swept through the state, bringing several inches of snow to the mountains and foothills west and southwest of Denver. On the plains, cool, windy and wet weather can be expected today, with highs only in the low to mid 50s.

The wet weather will move out of the region overnight, with clearing skies and chilly temperatures. We will likely avoid any frost on the plains tonight, so gardens should be safe. Friday will dawn under a partly cloudy sky, with more sunshine expected throughout the day. The sun will help to boost temperatures back into the 60s at lower elevations, with 50s in the mountains.

Get ready for a great weekend! A large "ridge" in the upper atmosphere will rise up across the western United States and help to push the storm track back to the north of Colorado. Sunny skies and warmer temperatures will cover the area through the weekend, with highs rising into the 80s on the plains by Sunday. The recent rains, combined with sunny skies and warm weather, should really help green things up over Colorado. The warm and dry weather will last until late Tuesday, when a chance for thunderstorms will return to the region.

May 14, 2008 Tuesday's snowstorm for the foothills and mountains dropped as much as a foot of snow on some areas above 9,000 feet. The moisture from the storm was very welcome, but so is a little sunshine today. May is a month with frequent weather changes and the quiet respite between storms will not last long. Another fast moving cold front will zip into the state by tonight and bring more precipitation.

This next system should be a fairly modest one, so only light rain and snow showers are expected late this afternoon through Thursday morning. The increase in clouds will cut off much warming today, so we should see highs in the 50s to near 60, but not much more. Thursday will stay cool as well, thanks to clouds and scattered showers.

Once this next system gets out of here, we are in for a delightful stretch of days that will make for a perfect weekend. Sunny skies and warmer temperatures will team up to bring us a great stretch of days - the best we have seen in quite a while. Friday will see highs in the low 70s, Saturday and Sunday may get close to 80 degrees. The next cold front will not arrive until the middle of next week.

May 13, 2008 May is well named! It "may" be warm and beautiful or it "may" look like a winter scene! After a fabulous day Monday, a strong cold front roared across the state bringing much colder air, rain and snow. Heavy snow is likely today over most of the mountains above 9,000 feet, while a chilly rain/snow mix falls on the metro area. Temperatures in Denver will drop from the 70s yesterday to the mere mid 40s for highs today. In the high country, up to a foot of snow may pile up, while foothills locations could see several inches.

The plains will receive a very nice soaking rain, with many areas getting a good half an inch today. Despite the damp, cold nature of the day, this storm is most welcome as the moisture will quench thirsty soils and should help drop the fire danger for a while. Skies will clear tonight as the storm exits the region, but temperatures will be low enough that you might want to cover up your vegetable garden if you have already planted.

Wednesday will be a milder and drier day, but we will be in between storm systems as another cold front will move into the area on Thursday. This next system will be considerably weaker and will only bring light showers and slightly cooler temperatures for Thursday. The mountains will likely have rainshowers, mixed with some snow, but nothing too heavy.

After the Thursday storm moves out, we are in for a real treat. A nice upper level "ridge" will build in the jetstream and that means mild and dry weather across Colorado for the weekend! Temperatures will warm each day through Sunday and should top out near 80 by the end of the weekend. The rain and snow of earlier in the week will have soaked in and made everything green and beautiful!

May 12, 2008 Sunday was as perfect a day for Mom as anyone could ask for - sunshine, warm temperatures and gentle breezes. Today will be very pleasant once again, but there will be a big change coming in the weather tonight. A strong cold front will race across the state late today, ushering in some much colder air, along with rain and snow.

A WINTER STORM WATCH is in effect for most of the mountains and foothills tonight and tomorrow, with snow possible as low as 5,500 feet tomorrow. The cold front will be preceeded by showers and thunderstorms later this afternoon, and then much colder air tonight and early Tuesday. A strong north wind will develop tonight and that will increase the upslope along the Palmer Divide, so areas south of Denver in Douglas and Elbert Counties - places such as Castle Rock, Larkspur and Kiowa could pick up several inches of wet, slushy snow on Tuesday. In the mountains, snow will become heavy Monday night and may accumulate to 6-12 inches, especially in the northern and central mountains. Foothills locations west of Denver may see 3-6 inches of snow at elevations between 7,000 and 9,000 feet.

The storm will move out of the state Tuesday evening, with clearing skies and lighter winds. Wednesday morning could bring another freeze along the Front Range and northeast plains, with lows expected near 30 degrees. The weather will warm up again on Wednesday under sunny skies. Another weak storm will arrive Thursday, with mostly rain showers. Friday and next weekend will be warm and pleasant once again - good timing!

May 9-11, 2008 The unsettled weather pattern that has developed over Colorado will continue through the weekend, with a mix of sun-rain-sun expected. Friday will be a sunny day, Saturday brings cool, rainy weather and Mother's Day should be delightful!

A series of fast moving storms systems will continue to zip across the central Rockies. The next one will cruise through the state on Saturday, bringing showers and thunderstorms to lower elevations and some snow above 9,500 feet. By Sunday, that storm will turn into a nasty system for the Mississippi Valley, with heavy rain and severe thunderstorms expected to dampen Mother's Day from Chicago to St Louis to Dallas. In Colorado, our weather on Sunday will be picture perfect - sunny skies, light winds and warm temperatures.

Early next week will start pleasant, with sunny skies and warm weather expected Monday. By Tuesday, another storm system will approach with showers and thunderstorms. That system will also race out of here by Wednesday, but the longer range computer models indicate yet another storm will move in by next Thursday. Ah, such is Colorado weather in the month of May!

May 8, 2008 Denver awoke to thunder and hail early Wednesday and it looks as though Mother Nature may serve up another round of storms for today. Another in a series of upper air disturbances is swirling over the state and will bring more showers and thunderstorms to the area. The temperatures will stay a little on the cool side to produce much in the way of severe weather, but we may see some small hail and another half an inch of rain today.

Friday will bring a brief break in the action as the skies will clear and the rain chance fall away. Temperatures will warm back into the low 70s, making for a very nice day to get outdoors. The dry and quiet weather will not last long though, yet another storm system is on schedule to arrive by Saturday morning. More showers and thunderstorms are likely over much of Colorado for Saturday - making it a little soggy for soccer or other outdoor activities.

The timing of the storms could not be better for Mother's Day! We will again be in between storm systems and that will bring a winning weather combination for Mom! Sunday will be sunny and warm, with lovely blue skies. Perhaps a good day to take your mom on a picnic or help plant her garden!

May 7, 2008 A weak cold front moved though the state last night with scattered showers and a few thunderstorms. Rainfall early today has caused some headaches for commuters thanks to some locally heavy showers that created ponding, mud and local flooding on I-25. Meanwhile in the mountains and western sections of the state, the skies have been mostly sunny to start the day, although some showers will develop this afternoon. Today will be about 10 to 15 degrees cooler on the plains, and there will still be lingering showers around due to a departing upper air disturbance. To the west, another in a series of weak disturbances is zipping across the northern Rockies and will arrive in Colorado tomorrow, with another chance for showers.

The overall weather pattern will remain active over the next few days as these fast moving, but modest storm systems bring a chance for showers about every other day. We should squeeze in a nice day on Friday as Colorado will be in between these fleet weathermakers. Friday will be mostly sunny and warmer, with highs in the 50s to low 60s in the mountains and near 70 on the plains.

Saturday will turn cloudy and cooler again with yet another storm system. Right now, Mother's Day looks like a winner for moms across Colorado! Skies will return to sunny and temperatures should bounce back into the 70s. Sunday might make for a lovely day to take mom out for a picnic, or help plant some of her spring garden!

May 6, 2008 A weak upper air disturbance will drift over eastern Colorado this afternoon and help to stir up some thunderstorms. The skies will be mostly sunny through the morning hours, but clouds will develop by and lead to scattered showers and thunderstorms late this afternoon and evening. The outlook for severe weather is low, as the best energy in the atmosphere for really big thunderstorms will be to our east in Kansas and Oklahoma

A few storms late today will bring brief heavy rain and small hail, giving way to just some rain showers overnight. On Wednesday, cooler air will move in from the north as the upper air disturbance spins to the east of Colorado. There will still be enough moisture and instability to bring some showers Wednesday.

Thursday and Friday will be mild and dry, but another minor system will slip into the region on Saturday. Cooler weather and some showers and storms will result for the first day of the weekend, but Sunday will return to warm and dry. May is typically our wettest and cloudiest month of the year and with all of the dry weather we experienced during the late winter months, we could certainly use some good soaking showers. Sometimes those showers get mean and bring downpours and hail, so stay with TheDenverChannel.com for updates when the skies turn dark.

May 5, 2008 Cinco de Mayo will be a delightful day across Colorado as sunny skies and warm temperatures are expected. There will be a gradual increase in high clouds during the afternoon, but almost all of the state will stay dry. In the mountains and foothills, some widely scattered high-based showers and storms will be possible today, but any storms that develop will bring more wind and noise than anything else. Overall the weather pattern will stay very pleasant across the state to start the workweek.

Tuesday and Wednesday will bring a minor storm system to the region, with a slight chance for showers and thunderstorms. This will not be a very powerful storm system, so rain chances will stay in the 20-30% range. Temperatures will dip a bit as this system moves through, dropping readings about 10 degrees around the state.

The latter part of the week should see a return to mild, dry and quiet weather. May can often be one of our stormiest months, but at least for now, the pattern seems to be rather sedate for Colorado. We have a long way to go, however, so stand by for adventure in our skies as the month of May continues.

May 2-4, 2008 The cold front that swept through Colorado early Thursday brought a chilly reminder of winter to much of the area, with snow, cold and strong winds. The weather will slowly improve over the weekend as that stormy system swirls off to the northeast of Colorado. Strong northwest winds will swing across the state through Friday, with gusts of 30-50 mph.

By Saturday the weather will calm down and begin to warm up. High temperatures will return to the mid to upper 50s under sunny skies. The snow that fell on the western and southern suburbs will melt and soak into the ground and really help green up the lawns. The moisture has also helped to temporarily cut back the fire danger, some very good news!

Sunday will be a delightful day with sunny skies and warmer temperatures. The mild trend will continue for the start of the workweek as temperatures climb back into the 70s. The next storm may move in here by the middle of the week, but it does not look like it will be very strong or cold.

May 1, 2008 April ended on a warm and dry note - a summer preview, but early May will make us think that we have taken a giant step backwards on the calendar. A strong cold front roared through the state overnight, bringing an abrupt end to the summer-like weather. Gusty northwest winds quickly shoved the warm air to the east and ushered in a chilly blast of wind and snow for the mountains. Heavy snow is likely today in the mountains of central and northern Colorado, with a foot or more expected by late tonight over elevations above 9,000 feet. In Denver and across the eastern plains, much colder weather, strong northwest winds and a mix of rain and snow can be expected today and tonight. A quick blast of snow developed over the Denver Metro area early today, especially on the south and west sides of the area. By 10 AM, about three inches of snow had already fallen in southeast Aurora.

Snow accumulations will be less over lower elevations, due in part to the very warm surface temperatures from the recent warm spell. The winds will mostly be from the northwest, not a favorable direction for heavy rain or snow over the northeast plains. Nonetheless, we should pick up about .30" to .50" inches of moisture at lower elevations, with a few spots getting some heavier showers.

The cold front that whipped through here last night will now turn into a major spring storm over central Nebraska during the next 24 hours. We will be on the western edge of this intense storm and that will keep us windy and chilly through Friday. Snow will be possible in the northern and central mountains through tomorrow, with rainshowers and gusty winds over the eastern plains. Western Colorado will be far enough away from the center of the storm to only have partly cloudy, cool and breezy weather. Farther to the north, very heavy snow is expected across the Black Hills of South Dakota, with over a foot likely in Rapid City. Had the low pressure center of this storm (the big red L on our weather maps) developed over western Kansas instead of central Nebraska, Denver would be in line for a huge May snowstorm!

By the weekend, the storm will swirl away into the Mississippi Valley and leave Colorado with a cool, but quiet day on Saturday, followed by a slow warming trend into early next week.

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