Storm train gets rolling next week, starting with the Sat/Sun storm system

11/12/26 9am: Looks like the storm train is going to get rolling next week (starting Sat) as global models show several storm systems rolling in off the west coast between now and Thanksgiving, with some much colder air after Nov 19th (on a side note Thanksgiving week looks cold and unsettled right now, more on that later).

In the meantime we have a storm system slated to impact the state from Sat morning to Sun morning. Forecast for that storm is on track for the most part with a few small changes.

Looks like impacts are going to come in a little bit earlier than the models were showing yesterday.

Rain/snow moves into southwest CO / San Juans after 8pm Friday and will continue over southern / western CO through about 11pm Sat. Looks like upper parts of the San Juans, above 8500ft will get 6-12" of new snow by Sat pm.

Generally speaking snow levels in the mountains will fall from around 10k ft Fri night to 8k ft by Sat night.

Rain/snow moves into the north-central mountains by 8am Saturday with the main event from 8am Sat to 8am Sun (biggest impacts Sat evening). For the local ski areas, and higher mountain passes, above 8500ft: 1-5" of new snow with highest amounts from Breck south (southern Tenmile, Mosquito Range, northern / central Sawatch down to Monarch will be favored for highest amounts locally).

Less snow north of I-70 (but still 1-3" in spots).

For Den/Bou and the front-range most of the action will be south but a chance for rain showers mostly from 3pm Sat to 2am Sun.

Best chances on the front-range will be from the Palmer Divide south to Springs to Pueblo and east. Parts of the southeast plains could get some good rainfall Sat afternoon into early Sun.

The storm clears out of southeast CO by 11am Sun.

Next storm system arrives on Tue into Wed (11/17-11/18) with another round of snow for the mountains. And maybe some rain/snow for Den/Bou and the front-range as well.

First image shows the active pattern coming in via forecast 500mb vorticity / wind over the next 15-days from ECMWF....you can see several lows moving through. Image 2 shows forecast total liquid precip from now through 11am Sun from latest ECMWF model, third image is equivalent for total snowfall. Fourth image shows forecast total snowfall from NWS Blend of Models (through 11am Sun), take modeled rain/snow amounts with a grain of salt.

I added Pagosa Springs to my Pivotal precip/snow maps as well.

Tomorrow I will have a custom snowfall map for this storm system.