Marty’s Friday Evening Forecast – Snow and Wind – 12/8/2023

Overview: We're tracking a snow for some areas this evening and tonight, and a crisp, breezy weekend…

Tonight: A fairly organized area of snow will move from north to south over parts of the area this evening into tonight. Accumulating snow is most likely to fall over the higher terrain in the Pikes Peak Region as well as over the higher terrain to the south and southwest of Pueblo. Lower elevations along the I-25 corridor will probably receive between 1" and 4", with the heavier amounts closer to the mountains. Since the air is going to continue to get colder after the sun sets, and the wind will be increasing enough to start blowing any snow that does accumulate around, in areas where enough snow falls the roadways will become more likely to be slick and some areas may experience reduced visibility at times. Some bands of light snow may also stretch eastward over the plains where accumulations of snow will probably remain less than an inch or 2". Some pockets near the mountains on the Palmer Divide, and over the mountains of Teller County could receive a more general 3" to 6" snowfall with locally higher amounts possible, particularly on top of and to the north and northeast of Pikes Peak. It is also possible a quick 3"- 6" could fall over the Sangre De Cristo and Wet Mountains, with 1"- 4" more likely over the northern slopes of the Raton Mesa farther from the mountains.

Expect some wind gusts between 20 and 30 mph as the night progresses, and the air will be chilly with low temperatures in the teens and 20s for most areas, but single digits to near zero over the high country and high mountain valleys.

Saturday: Any leftover snow south of the Arkansas River should end early. Expect a blustery day with wind gusts between 20 and 40 mph over the Palmer Divide and the eastern plains. The wind shouldn't be as gusty along and west of I-25 in other areas, but for many areas there will be enough wind to put a bite into the air. Clouds should generally break up from northwest to southeast as the day progresses, but high temperatures are only expected to reach the 30s and 40s for most areas with some 20s over the mountains.

Extended: Sunday will start chilly but should end up warmer during the afternoon with high temperatures rebounding into the 40s and 50s for the plains with some 30s over the mountains. We expect some afternoon clouds and areas of wind, so "brisk" is probably a good word to describe the day for most areas. Next week will be colder than last week with periods of wind and high temperatures mostly in the 40s and 50s for the plains with 30s and 40s over the mountains. A weak system should bring some clouds over much of the area and possibly a few snow showers to the high country on Tuesday, but we don't expect any significant precipitation over the plains. A separate system could bring some rain and/or snow showers to mostly far southern and eastern Colorado later in the week.