Marty’s Sunday Morning Forecast – Changes Late! 3/1/2020
Overview: Most of the weekend looks warm and dry for eastern Colorado, but the next cold front will be bringing colder air and snow to the high country Sunday afternoon and probably to eastern Colorado Sunday night into early Monday. The early part of the week will be cool with warmer air moving in for the latter half of the week.
Today: Most of today will be partly to mostly cloudy and breezy to windy at times for eastern Colorado, but the colder air and snow over the high country will begin moving our way in the afternoon with scattered rain and snow showers possibly developing over and near our local mountain areas late. High temperatures will reach the 50s and 60s for the plains with 40s over the mountains, but the air should cool over the Pikes Peak Region late this afternoon.
Tonight: A period of snow and wind appears likely to expand and move over more of eastern Colorado tonight into early Monday morning. Initially, there could be some rain on the leading edge of the precipitation over the plains, but as the colder air works over the area we expect that the precipitation will change over to snow for just about everyone. This system isn’t super cold so for lower elevations along the Arkansas River the snow will probably be fairly wet with accumulations primarily on the cooler surfaces, but with the snow falling primarily after dark it is possible that some whitened roadways will be found on the high terrain along and west of I-25. It’s also possible that as the air temperatures cool below freezing that wet roadways may become icy in spots. Total snowfall accumulations don’t look to be real heavy with 1"- 4" likely for most areas where the snow does accumulate; the higher numbers are most likely either on the higher terrain or under any heavier bands that may develop over localized areas. There could be some localized bursts of heavier snow that would push the accumulations higher for spots on the higher terrain, and it’s hard to know exactly where these bursts will occur although the northern slopes of the Palmer Divide would be the most likely location. If heavier snowfall amounts are observed they are likely to be the exception rather than the rule. Expect reduced visibility under any heavier bursts of snow and there will be some wind that could cause areas of blowing snow as well. We expect temperatures to cool into the 20s over the plains and teens over the mountains by morning.
Extended: The Monday morning commute could be slow for some areas but the snow should wind down early in the day. Some areas of low cloud cover are likely to hang around during the morning hours and the rest of the day looks breezy and chilly with high temperatures only in the 30s and 40s. A reinforcing shot of cold air will graze the area Tuesday morning, kick up the wind, and possibly generate a brief period of low cloud cover or a few snow flurries over the Pikes Peak Region early in the morning but the rest of the day looks partly cloudy, breezy and cool. We should warm nicely for the rest of the week with occasional clouds and periods of wind.
