As the first month of 2015 begins, the weather pattern should feature extremes.
Currently, a very active southern jet is causing Pacific disturbances to become disorganized as they encounter the rough terrain of Arizona and New Mexico.
However, there is just enough Pacific moisture and upslope flow to cause snow across the southern part of Colorado, especially in the mountains.
We do not see anything that should change this weather pattern for the next 30 days.
One noticeable change will occur from a building ridge of high pressure that should develop later in the month over the Great Basin. This will make milder conditions more common west of the mountains as the jet stream lifts to the north.
Along the Front Range, Arctic air masses will generally slide to the east as frequent Canadian air masses dive southward. There will be some cold shots, but they should be short-lived. There should be several different warm-ups as well as the Arctic areas of high pressure move away to the southeast.
To sum up, in general the weather will be wet or snowy in the south, milder in the west and changeable across the east.
