After nearly a month of dry weather and increasing fire danger in Nederland, a moist, spring-like weather pattern is coming to town. A series of storms will affect the Central Rockies starting on Sunday bringing much needed snow to the mountains and rain to the dry, parched plains. At this time, it appears that three storms will visit us this week, one on Sunday, one on Tuesday and Wednesday, and one later this week. As always, the details on the mid-week and end of week storms are a little sketchy, but it does appear that moisture is on its way.
The first storm will likely bring some light accumulating snow showers to Nederland late tonight and tomorrow morning. Snow amounts will be under 2 inches, so the impact will be negligible.
The mid-week storm will be more potent as a deep area of low pressure in the mid levels of the atmosphere (a typical springtime cut-off low) dives southward into the Great Basin. This storm is expected to slowly track across Arizona and New Mexico on Tuesday and Wednesday before heading out into the Central Plains on Thursday. While this storm will have plenty of moisture to work with and the Colorado Front Range mountains will experience upslope flow (winds from the east), the track of this system appears to be a bit too far to the south right now to result in a major precipitation event. Also, temperatures will be warm, and snow levels will float around 7500 – 8000 feet, just below the elevation of Ned. Whatever snow that does fall will be heavy and wet. Still, a decent snowfall of 10 inches or more will be possible Tuesday night into Wednesday. Thunderstorms will be possible as well.
The storm later in the week also appears to be taking a more southerly track. It will likely bring another round of rain and snow to the area, but confidence is low in the amounts right now.
All told, the storms combined may bring up to a few inches of liquid precipitation to the area, helping to alleviate fire danger, a least for a while.
Stayed tuned and enjoy the upcoming wet and snowy weather!