The warm and dry weather is about to come to an abrupt end as a strong cold front will sweep across Colorado early Thursday.
Wednesday will be another mild and dry day as the cold will be dropping into Wyoming, but remain north of Colorado through the daylight hours. Expect highs around 60 for Denver and the eastern plains, with low 40s in the mountains.
Winter officially starts at 9:28 a.m. MST on Thursday and it's definitely going to feel like it! The cold front will race across the state in the pre-dawn hours and will bring one to three inches of snow to Denver and falling temperatures throughout the day.
In the mountains, this front should drop 4 to 8 inches of snow, with a few lucky spots in the northern and central mountains getting closer to 10 inches.
Highs on Thursday will be at Midnight in the 30s to near 40 degrees, but temperatures by afternoon will only be in the low to mid 20s. Temperatures will moderate up a few degrees on Friday, but then plummet for the weekend as a second cold front sweeps across Colorado on Saturday.
This second front will be fairly dry as the air will be coming from northern Canada, but it still could drop another inch or two of fluffy snow. The air behind this front will be the coldest of the season by far for Denver and most of Colorado. Expect highs in the teens on Saturday and Sunday, with overnight lows zero to 5 below!
Christmas Day will be dry and cold with morning lows around 3 degrees and the highs bouncing back a bit to the upper 20s to low 30s.
Next week will stay cool and unsettled with more snow likely for the mountains and a chance for some snow in Denver and across the eastern plains by next Thursday or Friday.
By the way, tomorrow (Dec. 20) we will be featuring our "HOLIDAY HOTLINE" from 4 p.m. until 6:30 p.m. Meteorologists from Metro State will be in the studio to provide FREE, custom weather forecasts to help you with your Christmas travel plans!
We have you covered as the weather changes - Storm Shield App. In addition, Storm Shield PLUS can provide important information about approaching severe weather. Go to StormShieldAlerts.com or call 877-438-4977 for more information or text to word SHIELD to 21000.
