Snow? You're kidding...
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The first day of summer is Tuesday, but winter weather isn't done with Colorado just yet.
Much of western Colorado above 10,000 feet is in line for 2 to 8 inches from an "unseasonably strong system" tonight and Monday, according to the National Weather Service. A winter weather advisory is in effect from 6 p.m. today until 6 p.m. Monday, a designation that calls for slippery roads, slow travel and special attention for backcountry enthusiasts.
A big snow, this deep into spring, is unusual, but not unheard of, according to the weather data.
"Above 10,000 feet, you can have snow year-round," said Kyle Fredin, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Boulder. "But for lower elevations, like the Denver metro area, the first week of June is pretty much it."
Snow is in the immediate forecast for higher elevations in Boulder, Clear Creek, Larimer, Gilpin, Grand, Summit, Park and Jackson counties, forecasters said.
Locales that could see new accumulations include Breckenridge, Winter Park, the Eisenhower Tunnel, Berthoud Pass, Mount Evans, Rocky Mountain National Park, Cameron Pass, the Laramie and Medicine Bow mountains, the Rabbit Ears range, Willow Creek Pass, the Mosquito Range, Gore Range, Indian Peaks, Kenosha Mountains, and Williams Fork Mountains.
Beyond the thrill of a very late-season snow, the strong cold front should stem the rapid snowmelt of the still-heavy snowpack that has brought flood concerns that have lingered in northwest Colorado for weeks.
"It pretty much puts the brakes on it for a couple days, that's for sure," Fredin said of the melting snowpack that is still at 2 to more than 4 times its normal depth for this time of year in northwest Colorado.
Daily high temperatures in northwest Colorado could be about 20 degrees cooler Monday and Tuesday than they were a week ago, with a highs in the 50s and overnight lows in the 30s.
Mountain temperatures, however, should rebound into the 70s later in the week, according to the forecast.
The high in Steamboat Springs is expected to be 56 Monday but 76 degrees on Thursday. Temperatures in Aspen could reach 80 degrees by Friday, forecasters said.
Denver is expected to start the work week wet.
The metro area has an 80 percent chance of rain overnight and a 60 percent chance Monday, with a forecast high of 69 degrees Monday.
Temperatures are expected to return to the upper 70s Tuesday, the 80s Wednesday to near 90 on Thursday, according to the National Weather Service.
