After a snowy Sunday and Monday, Denver saw record cold temperatures on Tuesday morning, followed by yet another chance for snow on Wednesday night.
First things first: Denver picked up roughly 2-5 inches of snow between Sunday and Monday. While the immediate Denver area saw lower snowfall amounts, some areas just west and north of the city saw upwards of 20 inches of snowfall. Boulder saw more than 18 inches worth of snow, boosting their seasonal snowfall total over 130 inches.
The snow came to a close on Monday night, however, leading to clearing skies and potentially threatening another daily record low temperature in Denver on Tuesday morning. Temperatures are forecast to drop into the mid-teens on Tuesday morning, which’ll likely tie or break Denver’s current daily record low of 15 degrees, set in 1933.
Buoyed by sunny skies, though, temperatures should at least rebound back into the mid-to-upper 40s on Tuesday afternoon. By Wednesday, the mercury will spike back up into the 50s, melting away most of, if not all of this week’s snowfall.
But the relative warmth won’t last all that long. By Wednesday night and into Thursday morning, another sharp cold front will drag in a band of accumulating snowfall. Denver could pick up a few inches of wet snow by sunrise on Thursday morning, with light snow sticking around for most of the day on Thursday.
A persistent pattern of northwesterly winds at the middle and upper levels of the atmosphere is keeping eastern Colorado locked into this chilly and snowy stretch. The jet stream is positioned considerably further south than usual, dragging in cold temperatures from the north. That’s also leading to repeated rounds of lighter snow. This is a typical weather pattern for January and February, and not one you’d usually find during the spring months. Just ask your thermometer.
If you’re looking for signs of spring, though, next week looks warmer. Temperatures should bounce back into the 60s by early next week, with 70s likely by the end of next week.
But in the near term, it’s more snow and more cold that’ll give the forecast a markedly wintry feel.
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