Daily Snow from Colorado   

I'm thrilled to share the news ... we have a 5-page story in Outside Magazine's July issue. See a teaser here or pickup a copy and turn to page 96. Thanks for your support over the years and here's to many more seasons of snow forecasting and chasing!

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A weak cold front moved through the front range earlier this morning (did you feel the 10 degree temperature drop and the burst of wind from the north?). This front will keep temperatures on the comfortable side today with highs on the plains in the lower 80s. While the entire state will be dry, there could be a few showers between 1-3pm along the continental divide (north and along I-70) and out to the plains. This shouldn't ruin any plans, but keep an eye on radar.

Sunday will be warmer and dry, and all of next week will be dry with temperatures at the lower elevations breaching the 90 degree mark each day.

The good news is that both longer-range models (American GFS and European) are consistently showing a cool down for the eastern plains next Saturday and Sunday with the chance of some precipitation. Keep this good news in the back of your mind if you feel yourself getting angry at the warm weather this week:-)

Enjoy this beautiful weekend!

JOEL

I'm thrilled to share the news ... we have a 5-page story in Outside Magazine's July issue. See a teaser here or pickup a copy and turn to page 96. Thanks for your support over the years and here's to many more seasons of snow forecasting and chasing!

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Our snow is going...going...going away. Here's the most recent SNOTEL graph showing that we've almost completely melted out (thick, dark blue line). Of course there is still snow left on the peaks, but most of the SNOTEL stations are between about 8,000ft to 12,000ft, and snow at this elevation is rapidly melting.

We are heading toward a mini heat wave over the coming week, but I think there is a light at the end of the tunnel, or at least a break between tunnels.

After a few showers today (Friday), Saturday through most of next week will be dry and warming each day. Temperatures in the 90s are likely for the eastern plains and the lower elevations of western and southern Colorado. The chance of rain will be almost zero for most locations, though there could be a few dry storms over higher elevations (clouds build up with a few lightning strikes, but little or no rain actually reaches the ground because it evaporates before it gets there).

Both the American GFS and the European models show that eastern Colorado could see a surge of cooler air move in next Saturday (June 15th). This would bring a break from the heat for a day or two. Let's hope it happens! Warm temperatures are nothing to be shocked about during the Colorado summer, but these temps are more manageable when we get a break every week or so.

JOEL GRATZ

PS - the water in the eastern Pacific Ocean is a bit cooler than normal and some models are hinting at a weak La Nina developing. A weak La Nina (if it happens) won't help us (very much) to accurately predict Colorado's snowfall for next winter, but it is worth watching.

The big weather news today is Tropical Storm Andrea off the northwest coast of Florida. The biggest issue will be heavy rain from Florida northward along the east coast through the early part of the weekend. Also, a few tornadoes have been reported over Florida, and this is normal for a tropical storm as it makes landfall.

Colorado will see a few afternoon storms on Thursday but most of these will be dry with the exception of areas around the east-central mountains near Pikes Peak. Dry thunderstorms aren't great, though, because it means lightning with no rain and therefore a chance to spark fires.

Friday midday and afternoon will be slightly more active with a better chance that the afternoon storms will actually produce rain. There won't be many storms, but more than on Thursday. The storms will generally form close to and east of the continental divide.

Then warmer and drier weather takes over during the weekend and through next week. Hopefully we will see one or two slight cool downs around Tue/Wed and then next weekend (June 8-9). Aside from these times, though, the weather looks hot and dry with 90s on the plains and warm conditions in the mountains valleys. Warm and dry weather means that any fires that start could spread quickly, so be careful please:-)

JOEL GRATZ

Cold air and clouds east of the divide, and warm air with sun west of the divide. Nothing says "June" like temperatures in the 40s and low 50s in the Denver metro area:-)

The satellite image shows the clouds covering the eastern part of the state. A cold front moved through on Tuesday. Behind the front, winds from the east created an upslope flow (from the east) and this is what helped to bring last night's rain and today's clouds.

The eastern clouds will lift by late this afternoon and then the state will see at least five days of warmer and nearly rain-free weather. Temperatures will push 90 on the plains into early next week, though we could see a bit of relief from the heat if a weak storm on Tuesday or Wednesday moves close enough. Until then, feel free to plan anything you'd like for this weekend as there should be no lightning or rain to ruin your plans. Get out there!

JOEL GRATZ

I heard reports of boot-deep snow at Abasin yesterday, and that was confirmed by their 10 inch report from Wednesday night through Thursday mid morning. Here is a current (Friday morning) webcam image of Montezuma Bowl...looks like winter!

It's currently very windy over the higher peaks of the northern mountains and this wind is spilling down to the eastern plains as well. A 100+ mph jet stream is overhead right now at 30,000 feet, and this is the culprit as these higher speed winds aloft mix down toward the surface. The jet stream will slowly move away from Colorado over the next day and the winds will subside.

Aside from a surge of cooler air over the plains Friday night into Saturday, temperatures will warm from today through Monday and the chance of precipitation is almost zero. A weak storm will move through the state on Monday night and Tuesday which will cool temperatures just a bit and bring a better chance for light precipitation. I don't see a heat wave in our future for next week (excellent!), but the models are still hinting that we'll see a much warmer weather pattern sometime toward the middle of June. 

JOEL GRATZ