Colorado Weather: A blast of frigid, arctic air and snow arrive today
An arctic cold front will arrive later today bringing cold, snow and wind to the state. A First Alert Weather Day has been declared for Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.
After a mild start to the day, temperatures will drop quickly as the arctic cold front arrives into Colorado.
The cold front will bring strong northerly winds with gusts up to 55 miles per hour possible on the eastern plains. The strong wind has also prompted a Red Flag Warning from 11am - 4pm where we could see wind gusts reach 60 miles per hour.
A Wind Chill Warning is in place starting at 4pm for the Northeastern Plains where we could see wind chills values -30 to -60 degrees. A Wind Chill Warning is in place for the Front Range, the rest of the Eastern Plains, and the Northern and Central Mountains from 8pm tonight - 11am Friday. Remember frostbite is possible within 5 minutes. Stay inside and if you have to go out, layer up! Also, remember to keep pets indoors.
Snow will begin in the mountains this afternoon and then move into the metro area this evening. We are expecting 2 to 4 inches in the metro area, the foothills could see 3 to 5 inches and the eastern plains 1 to 2 inches. In the mountains we could see 3 to 8 inches with high amounts, closer to a foot is possible in The Park and Front Range mountains.
A Winter Storm Warning has been issued for the Park/Gore Range from noon Wednesday to 6am Thursday. The combination of wind and snow will make for difficult travel.
A Winter Weather Advisory has been issued for the portions of the high country starting a noon and for the foothills, plains and metro area begins at 4pm today. Snow and blowing snow could cause difficult travel start this evening along the I-25 and I-70 corridors.
The snow moves out of the state on Thursday, but the cold sticks around. Frigid temperatures continue both Thursday and Friday. The First Alert Weather Days will extend Thursday and Friday for the dangerous cold. Thursday's high temperatures will stay below zero. The last time Denver had a high below zero degrees was February 5, 2014.
Friday we will only be in the teens for a daytime high. Friday the arctic air mass will move east and a warming trend will begin. On Saturday around noon we will finally climb above freezing. With a daytime high for Christmas Even in the low 40s for the Front Range. Temperatures will rebound quickly and for Christmas daytime high temperatures will be above normal in the low 50s.