HEAVY BANDS OF SNOW OVERNIGHT

Overview: Snow will begin to fall today locally, and some very heavy snow will be welcome news over areas where wildfires are burning in northern Colorado. Next week, while eventually warmer than today, still looks cool compared to recent weeks.

Tonight: The most likely area in southern Colorado to receive sustained, widespread, and potentially heavy accumulating snow looks to be near the Wet & Sangre De Cristo Mountains through Monday morning where more than 12" of snow should fall, but other areas will also receive significant accumulations of snow through the night with total accumulations of 1"- 4" possible over the eastern plains (possibly heavier along the Raton Mesa and Baca County), 3"- 6" to 4"- 8" for much of the I-25 corridor, and 4"- 8" of snow with localized heavier amounts possible over Teller and eastern Fremont Counties. Again, there will occasionally be localized bands where bursts of heavy snow could increase overall snowfall totals beyond the broad ranges just described in any areas, but it's very difficult to know exactly where these bands will set up. The snow will be light and airy as opposed to heavy and wet, and with the air being so chilly, any snow that falls will likely whiten area roadways leading to slick travel for many areas. By Monday morning the air will have cooled into the single digits and teens for most areas.

Extended: Areas of generally light, accumulating snow are likely to continue into Monday, especially over the southern parts of our viewing area. Additional accumulations of snow look to remain mostly light over northern areas, but southern areas may receive another couple of inches of snow on Monday. All areas should remain cloudy and very cold with high temperatures only in the teens and 20s. We expect the sky to clear and the air to warm gradually through the end of the week with a slight chance for precipitation over extreme southeast Colorado possibly on Wednesday.