Snow moves on, cold persists

For those of you who follow my blog through the winter months, you know all to well about the dreaded dry slot. Last night, after a brief period of moderate snow, a dry slot pushed in all but shutting off the snow for Denver completely. While snow finally did redevelop early this morning, it was very light, and we were likely robbed 2-3 inches of accumulation. That said, it was nice to finally get a "real" snow, and almost everywhere in northeastern Colorado picked up some much needed moisture. Here are some snow totals as of this morning (inches):
Golden: 8.6
Greely: 6.0
Highlands Ranch: 5.0
Northglenn: 4.5
Central Denver: 4.0

While snow will continue for some in far eastern Colorado this morning, the rest of us will just be dealing with the bitter cold. Current temperature: 5 degrees F. Tonight's low: -8 degrees F. Bundle up!

Best chance yet!

For several days now meteorologists at the National Weather Service have been tracking what appears to be our best chance of widespread snow across the front range so far this season. I have held off on writing anything about it because of my personal skepticism that this will actually come to fruition, and the uncertainty that remains with the eventual track of the low pressure system hanging off the Pacific coast. After three months of virtually no snowfall, it is hard to imagine all the ingredients will actually come together to bring us a real storm.

With the system not due in until sometime Thursday, let us take a look at a couple of possibly scenarios. The first, and best, is shown to the right in this GFS weather model. The low tracks across southern Colorado, giving Denver the best chance for prolonged, moderate snowfall (depicted in blue in the lower image). Some models, however, continue to track the low further north which would greatly impede our chances at getting a good snowfall in Denver. Either way, cold air is due to arrive in a fury, and will likely bring us some of the coldest temperatures of the season. Friday's highs may struggle to get out of the teens.

Winter Weather Advisory!

Things are finally coming together to bring us our first real snow of the season. A little skeptical about getting too excited about this storm given the way things have been going this season, but the National Weather Service has issued a winter weather advisory for late tomorrow afternoon and Wednesday night. Right now the general consensus is that Denver will get anywhere from 3 - 7 inches of snow with this system, while snow-favored locations to our west and south will pick up 5 - 10 inches of snow before it is all said and done. The system should clear out Thursday morning from north to south, giving way to clouds and cooler weather.

Stay tuned as things may change in the next 24 hours!