Windy over the next 36hours. Better snow chances this weekend

02/05/25 8:10am: The big story over the next 36 hours will be the strong wind. It will be turning very windy along the front-range (including Den/Bou/Ft.Collins and foothills) from 10am-5pm today with westerly wind-gusts of 30-50 mph.

It will also be very windy across much of the north-central mountains / front-range mountains as well today with westerly wind gusts of 40-70 mph, strongest along/east of the Cont. Divide: Front Range mountains (RMNP, IPW, etc will be favored for strong wind). It will also be windy again tomorrow (Thu) from from 10am-6pm with westerly wind-gusts of 30-60 mph again.

In terms of snowfall, this first wave for tonight is looking pretty weak, high-res models aren’t showing much for the mountains, global models have some. Better snow chances move in for Fri/Sat and Sun/Mon. Here is a look at general timing and amounts (amounts and details for the weekend will likely change some).

For the north-central mountains including Routt, Pitkin, Eagle, Summit, Grand, ClearCreek, western Boulder/Larimer counties

• First round of light snow / snow-showers from 2pm today to 2am Thu: Trace-2” for the ski areas, up to 5” for parts of Park Range (Steamboat ski north), Medicine Bow Range (Cameron Pass / RMNP)

• Next round of more moderate snow and a cold-front from 8pm Fri to 8am Sat: 3-7” additional for the local ski areas (favoring areas along/north of I-70)

• Third round of light / moderate snow from 2am Sun through 5am Mon: Additional 2-6” seems likely, favoring areas west of Vail Pass and also closer to WP (northwest flow)

• More light snow possible next Mon/Tue (02/10-02/11) but that will likely favor the front-range

• A bigger storm is possible around Thu, Feb 13th through Sat Feb 15th (looks active)

For Den/Bou/Ft.Collins foothills, PD and the front-range:

• Snow showers possible from 2am-8am Sat, best chances along the Palmer Divide and foothills (0-1”), most of Den/Bou won’t get any

• A better chance for snow form 2pm Sun to 2am Mon: Trace-3” possible, favoring the foothills and PD for higher amounts

• More light snow (and cold temps) will be possible next Mon night into Tue am (02/10-02/11) with Trace-3" additional possible

• Overall looking much colder for the front-range next week Mon-Thu (02/10-02/13) with some upslope snow possible

First image loop shows forecast wind-gusts over the next 48hrs (5am this morning to 5am Fri) from latest HRRR model (static image valid at 1pm Wed). Second image shows forecast snowfall from now through 2am Thu from latest GFS (for this first weak wave). Second image shows forecast precip-type/rate and mslp at 11pm Fri showing the second stronger storm system and cold-front. Fourth image shows forecast total snowfall from now through 8am Mon (02/10) from latest ECMWF model...take modeled snow amounts with big grain of salt as details are evolving.