Wet and cold weekend followed by improving conditions next week
Friday, May 8, 2015
A large and impressively cold storm currently located near Las Vegas will first move eastward across the southern Great Basin and then northeastward over Colorado through the weekend, continuing the current streak of wet weather. Furthermore, this very cold storm will likely bring snowflakes to the valley floor as early as Saturday night and accumulating snows down to 8000 feet or so, though most of the precipitation will have ended by the time the coldest air arrives for the second half of the weekend.
Showers should decrease and possibly end later this afternoon as the current blob of energy ejected from the storm exits the area, but may pick up again this evening as pieces of energy are periodically ejected from the parent storm. By Saturday morning, the forecast position of the storm along the Colorado and New Mexico border may force a dry slot over our area during part of the day tomorrow, which, as the name implies, may bring precipitation-free and perhaps even sunny weather to our area for a time tomorrow.
Don’t be fooled by the break, though, as unseasonably cold air is is drawn southward over our area later in the day as the storm intensifies in eastern Colorado during Saturday afternoon. Moderate to sometime heavy precipitation will be noted around the frontal passage, with showers behind the front expected through the rest of the weekend and into Monday morning in the cold and unstable northwest flow behind the departing storm.
Temperatures will be slow to respond Monday, but by Tuesday we should be returning to more seasonable temperatures as another storm moving over the Baja peninsula approaches our area. Similar to the storm last Tuesday night, but considerably weaker, I expect rain showers to increase in much warmer air at all elevations by late in the day Tuesday and lasting through the day Wednesday.
We will have another break in steady precipitation on Thursday and Friday, though we may be susceptible to typical summer afternoon storms as very warm temperatures invade the area. There is considerable model uncertainty after this though, as the Amercian GFS keeps another major storm just west of our area through the weekend, while the European ECMWF, in the latest forecast from this afternoon, moves this storm over our area during the weekend.
