Colorado Weather: Potent Storm Prompts Winter Weather Alerts For Entire State

DENVER (CBS4) - A potent winter storm moving south out of Canada has put the entire state of Colorado on alert for wintry weather. A number of winter weather advisories (purple) and winter storm warnings (pink) have been issued for all of Sunday and part of Monday.

It will be bitterly cold for those attending today's Broncos game in Denver. Light to moderate snow is expected with temperatures holding in the teens.

The drastic change in the weather pattern is welcomed news for our fire ravaged state. While the storm probably won't extinguish the wildfires it will definitely give firefighters a much needed break and some time to gain more containment.

The map below shows where the cold front was located just after sunrise on Sunday. It will take most of the day for the front to clear the entire state. Behind the front precipitation will increase and temperatures will fall. For most places the high temperature has either already happened or will be set very early in the day.

We do expect banded snowfall with this weather system which means snow totals will vary a lot over short distances. But on average we think 5-10 inches will fall in and around the Denver area with higher pockets possible. The Fort Collins vicinity was reporting 4 inches of snow as of 8 am.

The mountains of central Colorado could see double digit totals with several hours of light to moderate snow expected. Travel may be difficult at times on routes such as Highway 50 over Monarch Pass.

Some of the highest totals from this storm may come out of the San Juan Mountains where places like Wolf Creek Pass could see anywhere from 1 to 2 feet of powder. This will be a low water content snowfall due to the bitter cold air.

We stay in the cold for Monday with high temperatures likely not hitting the 20s for most areas. Overnight lows will be in the single digits above and below zero. A gradual warming trend will begin on Tuesday with dry and seasonal weather expected through the upcoming weekend, including on Halloween.