The snow on the ground will nearly be melted when a new blast of winter hits the Denver area late tonight and early Sunday.
A blizzard that will dump up to 16 inches of snow in the Colorado mountains this weekend also is expected to leave up to 5 inches of snow in the Denver metro area.
An arctic front dropping down from Canada will mix with moisture from the Pacific to blast the Colorado Rockies by morning, said Kyle Fredin, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Boulder.
“The mountains are going to get a lot of snow,” Fredin said. “Places west of the Continental Divide will do really well.”
Between 8 to 16 inches of snow is projected for the mountains, with the higher amounts falling on west- and north-facing slopes, he said.
The metro area will be balmy today with temperatures rising near 55 degrees, Fredin said. But for the rest of the weekend, temperatures will drop to the teens, he said.
The Denver area will get 1 to 5 inches of snow, with the foothills getting the larger amounts, Fredin said.
“We get about two of these arctic storms a year,” he said.
The storm front is pushing through Montana and Idaho right now about 500 miles away, Fredin said.
A winter storm advisory is in place for the mountains from noon today to 5 p.m. Sunday, Fredin said.
Kirk Mitchell: 303-954-1206 or kmitchell@denverpost.com
