02/09/26 8:35am: Alright, lets start getting into some details for the complex forecast this week. A weak wave tonight into tomorrow, then the main storm system still expected Wed afternoon through Thu afternoon and then maybe continued snow showers in the mountains through parts of the weekend.

First, going to be windy over parts of mountains and front-range this afternoon from 10am-8pm. Strongest over the Front Range mountains and foothills along/east of the Cont. Divide with westerly wind-gusts of 30-60mph for the mountains. For Den/Bou and lower elevations: gusts of 20-40mph this afternoon, strongest in/near the foothills. Also strong wind in areas from Hoosier Pass to Fairplay, etc today.

Light snow moves back into northern / northwest CO after 9pm this evening. Some light snow / snow-showers expected for parts of the northern mountains from 11pm this evening to 11am Tue. For areas closer to Flat Tops, Park Range (Steamboat ski and north), Medicine Bow Range near Cameron Pass and RMNP: 1-3" in a few spots. For areas further south: local ski areas and I-70 mountain corridor only Trace-2" in a few spots (near Cont. Divide) by Tue mid-day.

Then the main short-wave for Wed/Thu: models show some moist westerly flow, combined with the left-exit region of the jet-stream, with the main wave passing through on Thu morning. This storm system is pretty warm overall and coming in with west/southwest flow aloft, it will favor parts of western CO, with less snow for the eastern mountains, this is indicated on the fourth image below.

Wet snow (and rain for the mountain valleys) moves back into western CO and parts of the north-central mountains after 9am Wed.

Main snow event will be from 11am Wed through 8pm Thu, heaviest snow Thu morning. Snow-levels initially above 9k ft on Wed afternoon, falling to 8k ft by Thu am (some wet / heavy snow with this one).

In terms of amounts, areas closer to Vail, Beaver Creek, Aspen, CB, Grand Mesa, Flat Tops and Park Range near Steamboat, maybe even parts of the western San Juans (near Telluride and Silverton) will be favored and likely get 6-12"+ with highest amounts maybe closer to Elk Range or Park Range.

Not as good of a setup for Summit, ClearCreek and Grand Counties but likely a good 3-8", favoring areas along/north of I-70 (Loveland, Berthoud, WP and also towards RMNP and Cameron Pass)

For Den/Bou and the front-range does look like we get some rain showers initially on Thu: 8am-5pm, then a rain/snow mix or some light snow from about 5pm Thu to 2am Fri. Parts of the Palmer Divide and Foothills may get 1/2" to 2" of snow in spots. Likely little to no snow accum for Den/Bou proper (maybe a Trace-1" in a few spots by late Thu).

Looking ahead more snow showers for the mountains Fri into Sat but likely favoring southern CO, more on that later.

First image shows forecast wind-gusts at 1pm today from latest HRRR model. Second image shows forecast total snowfall from now through 11am Tue from latest ECMWF model. Third and fourth image compare forecast total snowfall from now through 5am Fri from latest ECMWF and GFS models, on the GFS images I indicated where biggest impacts will be but take exact snowfall amounts with big grain of salt.

I'll be putting out a snowfall map for the Wed-Fri storm tomorrow.