Colorado Daily Snow

Heads up, there may be fresher snow! Read the latest Colorado Daily Snow

By Joel Gratz, Founding Meteorologist Posted 9 years ago June 17, 2014

Summary

  • Cold temperatures Tuesday night and Wednesday night. Might drop below freezing down to 8,000ft.
  • Snow possible above 9,000 feet Wednesday afternoon and evening.
  • Rainy east of the divide from Sunday through Tuesday.
  • Dry and warm west of the divide during the same time.
  • Outlook for the end of June and early July
  • Amazing pictures and videos of yesterday's double tornado in Nebraska 

 

Cold Temperatures Tuesday & Wednesday night

A strong storm (for June, at least) is spinning over Idaho on Tuesday and will slowly head east during the next 24-36 hours. 

colorado snow

This storm will push cold air into the northern 2/3rds of Colorado, and temperatures will likely drop below freezing all the way down 8,000 feet on Tuesday night and Wednesday night. The coldest temperatures of the night are usually recorded at sunrise when the earth has had the most time to cool, so look for a nip in the air both Wednesday and Thursday morning as you wake up in the mountains. If you have sensitive plants, you might want to bring them inside to give them a taste of your warm, civilized, indoor lifestyle!

Snow possible Wednesday afternoon and evening

The Powder Finder has been dormant the last few weeks but is now back in action with a few inches of snow forecast for the northern Rockies over the next 24 hours.

colorado snow

For Colorado, a line of storms will move through the mountains on Wednesday between noon and 6pm, and these showers and storms should produce snow over about 9,000 to 10,000 feet into Wednesday evening. A few of the higher passes from Crested Butte north to Wyoming might get a bit slushy in the evening. Below is the snow accumulation forecast from 4pm Wednesday to 4am Thursday morning.

colorado snow

From Sunday through the middle of next week: wet east of the divide, dry over the mountains

Enjoy the dry weather on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday for the entire state, but things will change beginning on Sunday.

From Sunday through Thursday (June 26th), moisture will move north into Colorado from the Gulf of Mexico and the eastern Pacific. This moisture will bring a high chance of afternoon rain for the mountains along the divide, the foothills east of the divide, and the eastern plains. Expect 1+ inch of precipitation east of the divide and temperatures 10-15 degrees below normal with highs only in the 60s and 70s.

The moisture will be trapped along and east of the divide, so the mountains west of the divide should see little to no rain during this time, with average to above average temperatures. 

colorado snow

Outlook for the end of June and early July

Last week the long-range forecasts for the end of June showed very warm weather. However, the models have backed off of this just a bit, still showing the chance of above-normal temperatures, but cooling things off every few days with passing systems sliding by to our north.

Let's hope this model trends continues and we do NOT have a heatwave. However, long-range models are terrible, so looking out beyond 8-10 days is more of a dreamworld than reality.

Amazing pictures and videos of yesterday's double tornado in Nebraska

While the US has seen 35% fewer tornadoes than average this season, a few strong tornadoes hit towns in the upper-midwest yesterday and unfortunately there was substantial damange, loss of life, and numerous injuries.

Remarkably, at one point there were two tornadoes on the ground, at the same time, produced by the same storm. This has been seen before, but is extremely, extremely rare (perhaps twice in 40 years).

I embed some pictures and video below. 

Twin tornadoes:

Damage as one of the twin tornadoes hits Pilger, ME

Incredible:

Twin tornadoes (video link):

Unsettling video (link) as one of the tornadoes damages Pilger, NE and throws debris into the air. A tornado is an incredible thing to watch, but remember that those floating specs in the air are parts of people's lives being destroyed, which make this difficult to view without a heavy heart.

JOEL GRATZ

About Our Forecaster

Joel Gratz

Founding Meteorologist

Joel Gratz is the Founding Meteorologist of OpenSnow and has lived in Boulder, Colorado since 2003. Before moving to Colorado, he spent his childhood as a (not very fast) ski racer in eastern Pennsylvania.

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