Dangerous Blast of Cold Brings Snow Wind Chills to 15 Below Zero at Times!

(scroll to the bottom to see the cut-to-the-chase forecast without commentary)

In what may be one of the most dramatic 12-24 hour turn-arounds of the winter, if not the entire year, an Arctic cold front will come barreling through Colorado late Saturday into early Sunday. Behind it's passage, a truly polar air mass, originating from northern Canada -- near the Arctic Circle -- will drop temperatures some 50 degrees, bring life-threatening wind chills and some (though not a lot) of snowfall with it.

Though Sunday will be the coldest day of the coming week, Monday may not make it out of the 20s, and we may stay below freezing for highs through the remainder of the week. In addition to the light snow that will fall Saturday night and Sunday, more light snow is possible late Monday into Tuesday and then again on Thursday. Note that western mountains, especially those in the SW quadrant of the state, will see a whopping 1-3 feet of snow in the next 48 hours.

To give you a taste of the cold to come, and how the dramatic the change will be, most places (east of the Foothills) reached close to 60 degrees on Saturday; by 8am Sunday, temperatures may be more than 50 degrees colder than that -- in the single digits! And afternoon highs on Sunday probably won't make it out of the lower teens. Lows Sunday night, too, will near records and generally range from -10 to zero east of the Foothills and from -10 to -20 over the higher terrain.

To make matters worse, north winds gusting to 30mph late Saturday night into Sunday could push wind chill temperatures could push wind chills to 15 below zero at times. Exposed skin can acquire frost bite in a matter of minutes in these conditions. Pipes may also freeze at these temperatures. I cannot stress enough that this cold blast will be not only dramatic but dangerous.

DETAILED FORECAST:

Saturday Night:

• cold front to push through greater Denver metro area sometime between 11pm Saturday and 3am Sunday; dropping temperatures as much as 25 degrees in a matter of minutes
• light snow will develop shortly after this time
• light snow with falling temperatures and gusty winds to 30mph at times may produce wind chills to 15 below zero at times
• by dawn, temperatures will be in the single digits with 1-2" of snow on the ground

Sunday:

• Light snow with temperatures in the single digits when you wake up
• Light snow continues through afternoon
• Afternoon "highs" probably only in the low teens; snow tapers off by early afternoon
  
• Temperatures will drop back to the single digits by 5pm
• north winds up to 30mph may produce wind chills to ten below at times
• Additional accumulation 1-3"

TOTAL EXPECTED ACCUMULATION

(for Boulder/Denver Metro Area)

TWO to FIVE INCHES*

*lower end of the range as you head east towards Denver; higher end of the range as you head west towards Boulder/the foothills

Sunday night:

• clearing skies as winds die down
• bitterly cold: overnight lows from -10 to zero

I'll update the site on Sunday to give you an idea what the first few days of the work week look like -- in a word, continued very cold. Bundle up!