Forecast details through Mon: wet with storms on the Front Range, drier in the mountains till Mon

05/24/25 9:30am: Happy Saturday, we are getting ready to head up to the mountains soon. Anyway, it is the tail of two halves of the state this morning (and that will be the case this weekend).

Along the front-range (Den/Bou) it is socked in with some fog and low-level clouds behind an initial surface front that moved in last night. This deeper moisture will set the state for a few stronger storms in spots this afternoon (for front-range and eastern plains). On the flipside its clear and sunny in the mountains.

Generally speaking over the next 48hrs, most of the meaningful rain and thunderstorms is expected over the eastern half of the state: front-range and eastern plains with less in the mountains (but some tomorrow and better chances Mon for mountains).

For Den/Bou and the front-range: a chance for isolated to scattered thunderstorms between 2pm-10pm today, best chances will be from Denver south / southeast, and especially along/near the Palmer Divide and then over the eastern plains after 4pm. There could be a few severe storms in spots with hail wind and can't rule out a lanspout tornado (best chances east of Denver).

For the north-central mountains should be a pretty nice day today, a few storms over the Front Range mountains, well east of the Cont. Divide.

The bigger weather day is going to be Sunday as a short-wave trough moves through with a secondary cold-front for the front-range.

For Den/Bou and the front-range on Sunday a good chance for scattered to numerous storms from 1pm Sun through 2am Mon, best chances likely after 3pm, turning wet in spots. Could be some strong to severe storms as well. Best chances for stronger storms and heavier rain will again be near/along the Palmer Divide (also extending towards Springs), secondarily near Loveland to Ft. Collins and in the Larimer county foothills on Sun afternoon into Mon. Heavy rain in spots. Remaining unsettled into Mon am. More storms possible Mon afternoon as well.

For the north-central mountains a bit of a trickier forecast for Sunday (HRRR has most of the storms further east), other models like ECMWF have some storms further west (from Vail to Summit to Grand and east). Generally a chance for isolated to scattered storms from 1pm-11pm, best chances from eastern Summit county east, Loveland ski area east and Winter Park areas and Front Range mountains. Turning wet in spots Sun afternoon.

Then models show another short-wave on Mon...and that will likely bring best chances for rain and thunderstorms to the mountains: for the north-central mountains on Monday, a line of storms likely in the morning (maybe after 9am) then scattered storms likely between 10am-6pm (this includes Summit / Grand counties) so not looking like great weather in the mountains on Memorial Day.

Den/Bou and the front-range will also have storms from 12pm-6pm on Mon as the seond short-wave moves through, so heads up there, more on those details later.

Much less chance for storms this weekend for western and southern CO (from Aspen south and west will be drier) but still a chance on Sun afternoon and a better chance on Mon for a few storms.

Snow level will remain above 10,500ft for the weekend.

Heading up to Silverthorne soon, I'll have some updates from up there later.

First image loop shows forecast radar over the next 48hrs (6am this morning through 6am Mon) from latest HRRR. Second image shows the current, local satellite image showing it socked in on the front-range, clear in the mountains. Images 3 and 4 compare forecast liquid precip over the next 48hrs (through 6am Mon) from latest HRRR and ECMWF, you can see they differ for parts of the mountains, we shall see.