Denver may need only a few Dickens characters for another Victorian-style Christmas Day under a blanket of white, church bells in the city and a nip in the air if forecasters’ wishes come true.
Clouds will gather on Christmas Eve as the temperatures fall to just 4 degrees, but snow could arrive as early as Tuesday, according to the National Weather Service forecast.
The metro region has a 60 percent chance of snow Tuesday night and Wednesday morning, and a 40 percent chance of snow through Thursday.
Forecasters said they do not expect “excessive” accumulations in the mountains or the Front Range but noted the storm is still almost three days out and could intensify.
Chances of snowfall in Denver on Christmas Day are “slight,” but temperatures are expected to remain below freezing under cloudy skies until Saturday, according to the Weather Service.
Denver has had snow on the ground each Christmas since 2005, a remarkable run, given the odds.
An inch or more of snow cover on Christmas Day happens in Denver 36 percent of the time, 39 times in the past 107 years, according to the National Weather Service.
But an inch or more of new snow on Christmas Day is even more scarce: just 14 days in 107 years, 13 percent. In 2007, 8 inches fell on Denver. In 2006, Denver only had 0.2 inches of snowfall on Christmas Day, but there were more than 15 inches from an earlier storm.
Joey Bunch: 303-954-1174 or jbunch@denverpost.com
