A warm Christmas Eve in Denver on Saturday is expected to give way to a windy, cooler Christmas Day as a winter storms pounds the high country with snow.
The temperature topped out near 60 degrees in the city with sunny skies Saturday, but the mercury is forecast to drop heading into Sunday as a system moves into the high country and possibly the metro area.
The Denver metro area may have a white Christmas yet. There is a 60 percent chance of precipitation in the city overnight that could turn to rain with a forecast high on Sunday of 42 degrees, according to the National Weather Service in Boulder.
Although to be technical with it, it may not be a white Christmas even if it does snow — as the weather service’s definition requires an accumulation of at least one inch of snow.
Since 1900, only 38 percent of Denver’s Christmases have been white, according to weather service statistics. The most Christmas snow recorded on the ground in Denver was 24 inches following the Christmas Eve blizzard of 1982.
Make sure to hold onto your Santa hats as winds should reach 20-30 mph with gusts up to 50 mph in the afternoon on Christmas Day. A high wind warning has been issued for the Front Range foothills from 9 a.m. on Sunday to midnight Monday.
“A potent winter storm moving out of Colorado Sunday morning will bring strong winds to the Front Range foothills and adjacent plans late Sunday morning and will continue into the evening hours,” the weather service said in a forecast bulletin. “A strong westerly flow aloft will sweep over northern Colorado as a strengthening upper low moves toward Nebraska and the northern plains.”
Mild today. Snow and wind mountains tonight, front range and lower elevations Christmas Day.
— NWS Boulder (@NWSBoulder)
A winter weather advisory is in effect from midnight Sunday into the night for higher elevation spots in the high country just west of Denver, where up to 10 inches could fall in some areas. That includes Rocky Mountain National Park, Berthoud Pass, Breckenridge and the surroundings of the Eisenhower Tunnel.
On the Western Slope, Vail and Aspen are under a winter weather advisory Saturday night that expires early Sunday. A winter storm warning has been issued for southwest Colorado, as well, were up to 20 inches of snow could fall in some pockets.
Not much I-70 traffic and no crowds at Loveland today
— Jesse Aaron Paul ☀ (@JesseAPaul)
The storm could create travel problems on the Interstate 70 corridor, where visibility will likely be limited. The weather service says U.S. 550 and U.S. 160 near Durango could be impassible.
"Use caution when traveling," the weather service advisory says, "especially when in open areas."
