Tue storm is looking a bit stronger: 2-5" coming to the mountains. Strong wind in spots again.

12/16/24 9:30am: Morning, its Monday. Later forecast since I was looking at some stuff for Costa Rica. Anyway we do have some weather to talk about. The Tue/Wed wave is now looking a bit stronger again (compared to yesterday) and will bring some snow to the north-central mountains via a shot of colder northwest flow combined with some moisture. The setup will favor northern CO (north of I-70) but the local ski areas / I-70 mountain corridor will get some snow. Some main points:

Snow moves back into the Park Range (north of Steamboat) and northern Medicine Bow Range (near Cameron Pass) by 8am tomorrow morning

For the north-central mountains including Eagle, Summit, Grand, ClearCreek, western Boulder/Larimer counties the main snow event will be from 11am-11pm Tue. Generally looking at 2-5" for the local ski areas with highest amounts locally near Vail Pass, Winter Park, Berthoud Pass, IPW, RMNP and Cameron Pass.

Parts of RMNP to Cameron Pass and parts of Park Range (north of Steamboat) could get up 6" in a few spots (in areas favored by northwest flow).

For Den/Bou and the front-range just a dry and windy cold-front expected tomorrow evening, after 2pm...turning much colder and windier on the front-range tomorrow afternoon / evening but no precip due to the strong northwest downslope flow. It will be colder on Wed as well with temps in the 30s/40s

The other big story with this fast moving storm will be the strong wind expected across much of the north-central mountains and northern Front Range mountains/foothills: 10am-10pm Tue... mountains above 9k ft can expect wind-gusts of 30-70mph. Lower elevations northwest wind-gusts of 20-40mph (will be chilly and windy Tue afternoon)

Storm clears out early Wed, will remain breezy over the Front Range mountains

Looking ahead quiet weather expected from Wed 12/18 through Wed 12/25 (Christmas). Likely a more active pattern after 12/26 but uncertainty is high

First two images compare forecast total snowfall through 5am Wed from very latest 12z HRRR and 12z GFS models...take modeled snow amounts with grain of salt but shows where heaviest snow may fall. Thir image shows forecast wind-gusts at 2pm tomorrow from latest HRRR. Fourth image shows the cold-northwest flow hitting the mountains and front-range at 8pm Tue from latest GFS model.