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Forecast discussion:
We were spared freezing drizzle and freezing fog for most locations around Longmont on Monday. Instead a very very light snow fell most of the morning and early afternoon. It was not enough to coat the ground in most locations.
Now the winds switch to a westerly direction and down slope warms us up quickly. Today's high will be around 50F and Wednesday's temperature will be 60F with much stronger winds. Figure 1 shows those down slope winds at their maximum tomorrow. Wind speeds may hover around 20mph. Good thing it is not trash day (well, for my neighborhood). The mountains will see continued snow. Estes Park will get 2-4" + of snow Tuesday and Wednesday, for example.
The longer range forecast:
Looking off to Friday, small snow chances return on Thursday night in Longmont. Snow totals look like a coating to an inch will build up in the Thursday 'storm.' We are on the edge of the no-snow zone (the GFS Figure 2). The NAM looks similar (Figure 3). Both put a foot or more snow in the higher elevations. Bring it on!
What is interesting is the upper air pattern - for today (Figure 4) there is a trough over the western US and a ridge in the east. Figure 5 is the pattern for next Monday - and it is very similar! Having a trough to our west does mean more western Colorado and mountain snows.
