Record Warmth Possible This Weekend!

A Clear and Sunny Day in Downtown Denver - Courtesy of EarthCam

So, the weather outside has been rather perfect for early March. We saw a slight drop in temperatures compared to Wednesday but with full sunshine, you couldn't really tell. That slight drop in temps came from a cold front that moved through. It seems weird to talk about a cold front with no snow coming with it but hey, I'll take it.

Forecast 

As we head closer to the weekend, a ridge is going to be building over the Western US. Remember: ridging typically comes with clearing skies and warming temperatures. 

As this ridge builds and progresses to the east it will continue to bring a lot of sunshine to us and very warm temperatures. I'm talking 15º above normal. Yasss. 

Forecast through March 11

The red line in the above image shows the normal high temperature for any given date. Notice how every day is likely to be above average in temps. This goes for overnight low temperatures as well. 

Through Saturday, we will be under sunny skies and just beautiful conditions. There will be a few clouds into the nighttime hours and there may be clouds that form in the afternoon hours on Saturday as well but I'd say a good majority of the day will be mostly sunny. 

Our next chance of rain and snow comes on Sunday when a weak trough impacts the state. This will bring some snow to the mountains (mountain forecast below) and a rain/snow mix to the Plains. Sunday will be noticeably cloudier and rain should hold off till the late afternoon/evening. At this time it looks more like a rain event than a snow event but because temperatures will be cooling, there may be some snowflakes that you see mix in at times. It won't amount to anything since overnight lows aren't supposed to dip below freezing.

Next week looks more unsettled with partly cloudy skies continuing Monday through Friday with intermittent minor chances for precipitation. I say precip since it looks like it will be mostly rain but the potential of some snow showers are possible as well. At this time, there doesn't look to be any big signals of snow in the near future.

Mountain Forecast

Loveland Pass on a Sunny Afternoon - Photo from CDOT 

The mountains will see a few chances of snow over the next 10 days. The net storm is set to bring snow showers to the San Juan mountains by Saturday afternoon and continue to spread north through Monday. This first burst of snow will deliver 1-4 inches of snow across most mountain locations. So, we are not expecting any big impacts to mountain travel.

Another system moves in right on the heels of that. From Tuesday to Friday, thanks to a persistent northwest flow, the chance of snow will linger through much of the workweek. Total snow from this secondary, and longer duration event, will range from 3-12 inches. Definitely a healthier-looking system but again this is over the course of 4 days or so - so travel impacts will be possible but limited to those higher mountain passes. 

There is a rather strong signal of snow showing up on the GFS around the 15th and again on the 17-19th. It's also showing a signal of snow for the Denver area. 

~Rain or Shine

  I'm Andy Stein