It’s a tale of two Christmases this week: one high and white and the other low and … not so white.
The National Weather Service in Boulder on Monday , stretching from Steamboat Springs to Summit County to Rocky Mountain National Park. Eight to 16 inches of snow could fall starting late Monday night through early Wednesday morning.
Meanwhile, the Front Range will be lucky to see any new snow appear before Friday. Meteorologist Frank Cooper, with the National Weather Service, said while temperatures will cool noticeably starting Tuesday evening, snow chances before Christmas Day remain in the 10 percent to 20 percent range.
But gusty winds , with peak gusts up to 75 mph west of Idaho Springs.
“We get the wind, they get the snow,” Cooper said of the Front Range/high country split.
Cooper said the Front Range’s best chance for snow — 20 percent — doesn’t come until later on Christmas Day, climbing to 30 percent by Friday night.
But colder weather in Denver and its suburbs is a guarantee as the week moves on, Cooper said. After a Tuesday in the upper 40s, temperatures will top out in the 30s on Wednesday and Thursday and then dip to the 20s as highs on Friday and Saturday.
While snow in the mountains will be heaviest over the next couple of days, it will never really totally let up right up to Santa’s arrival Thursday night.
“You’re never going to be completely out of the snow showers,” Cooper said.
John Aguilar: 303-954-1695, jaguilar@denverpost.com or @abuvthefold
