A look at the weather for this week. The jet-stream is trending north

02/03/25 8:15am: Morning, its Monday. Lets take a look at what we can expect weather-wise this week. I am seeing some changes compared to what I saw last week. Overall the jet-stream appears to be staying further north during the week, with just a brief shot of snow for the northern mountains Wed evening into Thu am. Then a stronger storm system and cold-front expected for Fri into Sat but it's not looking nearly as strong as the models were showing last week (energy is more diffuse and spread out to the north).

First, another very warm day on tap. It is already 65 degs at my house in Westminster at 8:05am on Feb 3rd! High temps today will be in the low to mid-70s today for Den/Bou and part of the eastern plains (especially southern plains). Over the northeast corner of the state (closer to Sterling) a backdoor cold-front will move in this afternoon and keep temps in the 40s/50s up there. It will also be warm in the mountains today (40s and 50s there as well). Another warm day tomorrow as well.

A round of light snow is expected for the north-central mountains, favoring the northern mountains again (Park Range to Medicine Bow range) from about 5pm Wed to 8am Thu. For the local ski areas / I-70 mountain corridor the Wed/Thu wave won't produce much snow, maybe Trace-3" at some of the ski areas. Areas in the Park Range (Steamboat ski / Rabit Ears), Flat Tops, Medicine Bow Range near Cameron Pass, northern RMNP could get 2-6" by Thu am.

Then a more significant short-wave combined with a cold-front will impact the state from about 2pm Fri through 8am Sat again favoring northern / north-central CO.

For the north-central mountains around Eagle, Summit, Grand, ClearCreek, western Boulder/Larimer counties looks like another round of moderate/heavy snow from about 2pm Fri to 5am Sat. Heavy snow likely on Fri evening as a strong cold-front moves through. Snow amounts are unclear as the jet-stream will be sitting further north. Looks like the local ski areas / I-70 mountain corridor will likely get an additional 3-8" by Sat am. But once again the heaviest snowfall will be near Park Range (Steamboat ski / Rabbit Ears), Flat Tops and the Medicine Bow Range (including Cameron Pass and RMNP), with up to 5-12" additional in those areas by Sat am.

For Den/Bou and the front-range models show a strong cold-front moving through Fri night after 8pm, but with the expected northwest flow aloft, does not look like much snow but it will be turning much colder heading into Sat. Maybe some snow-showers primarily from 8pm Fri to 8am Sat, generally only Trace-2" possible in a few spots, best chance from Palmer Divide south. On Sat during the day some snow-showers over the southern front-range (from Springs south). Just colder for Den/Bou with little snow.

So enjoy the warm weather today and tomorrow before some changes...but hoping the jet-stream can track further south as we had into mid-Feb.

First image loop shows the evolution of the forecast pattern via forecast precip-type/rate, mslp and thickness from now through Sun am (Feb 9th) from latest ECMWF (static image is valid 8pm Fri). Second mage shows the Wed evening wave, with the jet-stream mostly north of CO (so just a glancing blow). Image 3 and 4 compare forecast total snowfall from now through 5am Sat from latest ECMWF and GFS models, take modeled snow amounts with grain of salt but you can see where the focus for heavier snow will be through Sat am (northern CO again).