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Forecast Discussion:
The Wednesday p.m./Thursday a.m. storm didn't do much around the Front Range but it did kick up chilly, breezy conditions. Thursday midday (Figure 1) I've outlined the invasion of cold air down into the U.S. We are sitting firmly north of this boundary with temperatures in the next few afternoons only climbing into the 40's F. Brrr.
The next storm is in the longer range forecast below...
The longer range forecast:
We'll have southwest flow in the lower atmosphere on Saturday that will push us up to the 50's F before a cold front slides south over the region hitting Longmont around 5 p.m. (See Figure 3). The stronger up-slope flow won't start until later in the evening with the bulk of the lift and snow occurring Sunday morning, day, and on into the evening. This is related to the complexity of short wave troughs in the upper atmosphere invading the state on Saturday into Sunday (Figure 2).
The weatherunderground.com model (Figure 3 again) gives us 1-3 inches of snow between 1 a.m. Sunday and 5 a.m. Monday. Not a gigantic storm, but a nice coating. The GFS, Figure 4, has us right around 2 inches of snow through Monday p.m. (the window I chose). They are agreement at this point, so be prepared for a cloudy, snowy, cold, raw Sunday and a cold Monday. (We'll see a low of about 18°F Monday morning followed by a high barely above freezing). Get that coat ready!
