Weather rollercoaster expected this week!
Rachael Plath
From the potential for record-breaking highs to a chance for snow, this week’s forecast has it all!
TONIGHT: Expect a mild night with mostly clear skies. Overnight lows will gradually fall into the 30s for most with lights winds.
TOMORROW: We’ll get pretty close to tying record highs on Monday! The forecasted high for Colorado Springs is 69° which is close to the record high of 71° set back in 1996. It will be more difficult for Pueblo to land in the record books. Pueblo’s forecasted high is 74° and the record, also from 1996, is 78°. Breezy afternoon winds around 10-20MPH with gusts up to 35MPH will create high fire danger, so at 10AM RED FLAG WARNINGS will be in effect for many areas including Pueblo, Fremont and Las Animas County.
TUESDAY: A weak wave will send a cold front through prior to sunrise on Tuesday, dropping high temperatures into the 40s and 50s. While it will still be slightly warmer than seasonal averages, the almost 20° temp-difference between Monday and Tuesday will certainly be noticeable! This wave doesn’t appear to be accompanied by much moisture, so the cooler air will be the most noticeable chance.
REST OF THE WEEK: Our big weather maker this week will be an upper level system that is currently over the Pacific but will be propagating eastward across California, the Great Basin and then eventually traveling northeastward across Colorado beginning Wednesday. The first area this system will target will be the high country, as snow showers expand across the Rockies throughout the day and lasting into Thursday. At this point, it looks like this system has the potential to bring close to a foot to some of the highest peaks – which will be a welcomed relief to the terribly dry high country! While there could be a stray shower that spills across our local mountains, I anticipate most of southern Colorado will stay dry on Wednesday. Showers from this storm system are expected to impact areas along and east of I25 late Thursday and Friday as a cold front slides through. This system isn’t bringing super cold air with it, so while showers Thursday night should be primarily snow, anything that lasts into Friday will likely be in the form of a rain/snow mix. While some of the higher peaks in Colorado could pick up about a foot of snow from this storm, it appears the Pikes Peak Region is more likely to only pick up a few slushy inches as this system travels overhead. Meanwhile, for most of the lower elevations significant snow accumulations don’t look likely as, again, many of the showers will probably produce more rain than snow. This is a rather quick moving system, by Saturday and Sunday high pressure is back along with sunny skies and highs that are back in the 50s and 60s.
This system is continuing to evolve and as it does so, check back often for updates as your Stormtracker13 Team tracks this potential for badly needed moisture closely this week.