Colorado Weather: Classic March Snowstorm Possible Later This Week

DENVER (CBS4) - Happy Monday, hope you had a great weekend! Get ready for a wild ride when it comes to the weather across Colorado this week.

It'll be warm and mild again today with temperatures back into the 50s and 60s just about statewide. A few places on the eastern plains, western slope and around Denver could even hit the lower 70s. Some of the higher mountain towns will stay in the mid to upper 40s.

We do anticipate fairly extensive cloud cover over Colorado today as a weak weather system moves out of Arizona this morning. It could also bring some light rain or snow showers to parts of the central and southern mountains. Any precipitation that develops will be light and won't last long.

RELATED: Colorado Is Known For Heavy March Snow, One Storm Ended Record Drought In 2003

It will be windy at times by this afternoon and some places could see wind gusts between 20-40 mph, especially on the southeast plains. Because it has been so dry, combined with the warmth, the fire danger is elevated to high for most areas. The National Weather Service has issued a Red Flag Warning for the southeast plains today and a Fire Weather Watch for Tuesday.

The warm weather will stick around through Tuesday with mostly sunny skies expected but it will turn windy later in the day. That's because a new storm will be moving into the region. Wednesday will be a day of transition from warm and dry to much cooler and wet as our weather pattern changes.

Rain and snow will develop around the state late Wednesday into Thursday as much colder air filters in from the north and west. We could be talking all snow by Thursday night and Friday for most areas.

It's a little too early to talk about specific details with regard to snow totals because the storm is just too far away and still over the ocean. But once it gets on land and is sampled by weather balloons and surface stations on the west coast, we will get a better feel for how this will materialize.

At this point we can say it has our full attention and it also has the potential to be a classic March snowstorm for the state. Snowfall this time of the year is usually heavy and wet. This storm could produce widespread precipitation for up to two days which would be excellent news for the ongoing drought.