Marty’s Sunday Morning Forecast – Warmer Again – 4/28/19
Today: The wind should swing around off of the mountains during the day so any low clouds/drizzle over the plains should break up/end very quickly after sunrise. We expect a breezy, warmer afternoon with high temperatures back into the 70s and 80s for the plains, mainly 60s over our local mountain areas. Late in the day scattered showers and thunderstorms may begin develop over the Pikes Peak Region.
Tonight: A stronger cold front will move over the area tonight increasing the clouds and bringing a chance for some scattered rain and snow showers to the area through Monday morning. Accumulations of snow are likely to be confined to mainly cooler surfaces over the mountains where some whitened lawns are possible by morning. Much of eastern Colorado will wake to a blanket of low clouds and patchy fog. We expect low temperatures to fall into the 20s and 30s for the mountains with 30s to lower 40s for the plains.
Extended: Monday will be a mostly cloudy and much colder day with high temperatures likely in the 40s to near 50 for the plains with 30s to near 40 for the mountains. As an upper level system approaches from the southwest Monday afternoon a more widespread area of precipitation should develop with a mixture of rain and snow falling over the area late Monday into Tuesday morning. It does seem possible that the higher terrain along and west of the I-25 corridor could receive significant accumulations of heavy, wet snow especially on cooler surfaces. Should the snow fall heavily enough it could overcome roadways creating snow packed and/or slushy conditions for the area as well. Right now it is difficult to know if the snow will result in significant travel impacts over lower elevations, but this time of year this is certainly more likely to occur over the mountains and Palmer Divide. Until it becomes more clear how heavy and long lasting the precipitation will be it’s hard to know for sure what drivers will face Monday night into Tuesday morning, but we”ll be tracking this potential closely.
Widespread precipitation should wind down Tuesday morning. Expect a mostly cloudy and cold start to the Tuesday, but there are indications that the wind may swing off of the mountains helping to clear the sky and warm the area briefly during the afternoon. Colder air may then surge southward again late Tuesday or Tuesday night helping to generate scattered showers for some parts of the area. Wednesday may start cloudy along and north of the Arkansas River, but we do expect some clearing and warming during the day with temperatures back into the 50s and 60s for all but the southern most areas where the air may be a bit warmer. We expect spotty showers may develop during the afternoon and evening hours on Wednesday. Scattered showers may develop again Thursday afternoon; Friday looks breezy, and warmer.
