Snow diminishes, cold lingers

The latest arctic cold front to effect the region came in with a fury last night. The heavy snow band some expected to stall over Denver ended up drifting south and east late last night, cutting off accumulating snowfall in the Denver area. Still, an impressive storm if only for a few hours. Incredible winds, heavy snow, and bitter cold. Here is a video from the patio of Lost Lake last night, showing horizontal snow and whiteout conditions.

Though light snow is possible through the remainder of the day, our main focus will turn toward the frigid temperatures that are now in place. Currently it is 3 degrees in Denver, and it is likely we won't climb much higher than that before dropping well below zero tonight. Wednesday will remain cool with highs in the 20s, before a real warm-up starts to end the week. By Saturday highs could be in the mid 50s!

Snowfall Totals

Some decent snowfall totals being reported from around the region... Here are a select few from the NWS (in inches):
Eldorado Springs: 11.6
Roxborough Park: 10.0
SSE Bennett: 8.3
Westminster: 7.0
Castle Pines: 6.9
Denver International Airport: 6.5
E Highlands Ranch: 6.3
Longmont: 3

Chilly temperatures will be around for the next several days. Overnight lows will dip below zero tonight in most locations. In fact, many mountain locations could see temps as low as 30 degrees below zero! After Tuesday temperatures will moderate a bit before our next system arrives for the weekend. Still too much uncertainty surrounding it to make any major changes to the going forecast. For now expect cooler temps and a slight chance of snow.

Another mega storm barrels through west, may finally bring Denver snow too

The National Weather Service has issued a winter storm watch which is in effect from Thursday afternoon to Friday morning. A winter storm watch means there is potential for heavy snow and wind during this period.

While a watch is a step in the right direction, it would be really great to see them hoist a warning or advisory. Unfortunately too much uncertainty with the eventual track of this storm remains. The good news is, however, that models tend to be trending south - giving Denver its best shot for decent snow - and confidence continues to grow that we will see moderate snowfall. At this time the NWS is calling for 4 - 8 inches of snow for Denver, with 5 - 10 in the foothills and southern suburbs. They do caution, however, that any slight change in the storm's track could greatly raise or lower these numbers. So stay tuned as final forecast adjustments are made in the next 12 to 24 hours!

One constant in all of this is the cold air that is expected to arrive early tomorrow morning. By Friday we may be struggling to get out of the single digits for highs, with gradual warming through the weekend.

La NoSnow

More hot weather on the way for Denver to start the week. The National Weather Service expects temperatures to near 70 degrees in some locations on Tuesday, before cooler weather arrives for the second part of the week. Our next chance of snow? Wednesday night. A good chance of snow? No. La Nina continues. In fact, we are nearly 30 inches below normal for the season with only 1.5 inches of snow recorded at DIA.

Meanwhile the northern half of the country continues to get slammed with snow, ice and wind. The Twin Cities recorded a single day snowfall record for December with 14+ plus in a 24 hour span. Take a look at this incredible picture of the Metrodome that collapsed under the weight of snow early today (msnbc).