How much snow for Denver on Wednesday? Hard frost is coming for northern Colorado

On October 30, 2024By Littum

DENVER – The coldest temperatures of the season so far are in Denver’s forecast as a hard freeze is expected late Wednesday night into Thursday morning.

The drastic change in temperatures will arrive as the urban corridor could see a light rain-snow mix Wednesday morning with a system triggering a winter weather advisory for Colorado’s higher elevations.

“Don’t expect any real accumulation here for the metro area,” said Denver7 forecaster Katie LaSalle. “Primarily our central and southern mountains will be hardest hit, but it will be very cold across the Denver metro north to the Colorado border as a freeze watch goes into effect early Thursday.”

Ahead of Denver’s weather change starting Wednesday, Tuesday’s conditions will remain dry and breezy with high gusts possible for the metro and eastern plains.

“Depending on what side of the state you’re on, it’s a very different weather pattern,” LaSalle said.

Travelers along I-70 should remain aware of changing conditions Tuesday.

“We are seeing more widespread precipitation over the western slope affecting the I-70 drive, but right now it looks like wet roads, but you will find some snow falling and accumulating over higher ground,” LaSalle said.

In his forecast discussion Tuesday morning, The National Weather Service (NWS) in Boulder wrote “there was consideration of the possible need for a blizzard warning over the Eisenhower Tunnel or Vail Pass, but road temperatures should be warm enough to reduce the impact enough to where a warning is not necessary.”

Strong winds will remain along the Front Range as temperatures drop into the 50s late afternoon, early evening Tuesday in Denver.

“Not much moisture is expected in the eastern half of the state with a slight break in the mountains overnight, but we will again see more snow move into the higher elevations Wednesday morning.”

Several winter weather advisories are in place until noon Wednesday in Colorado’s mountain communities for higher snow accumulations and strong gusts, according to the NWS.

Parts of the eastern Sawatch, La Garita, Sierra Madre mountains are under winter weather advisory where travel could become difficult.

Higher elevations during the winter weather advisories could see total sneak accumulations of up to several inches, including up to 12 inches in these areas along the northwestern San Juan, Gore, Elk, Grand, West Elk and Sawatch Mountain communities, said the NWS.

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“So keep that in mind, it can be treacherous travel at times with areas of blowing snow,” added LaSalle. Aspen, Vail, Crested Butte, Telluride and Ouray, among other mountain communities, are also under a winter weather advisory until noon Wednesday.

While the Denver metro area is not under a winter weather advisory for potential travel issues, it is dips in temperatures will trigger a freeze warning starting at 22.00 Wednesday to 9:00 a.m. Thursday. The NWS upgraded the freeze watch to a warning early Tuesday afternoon.

Fort Collins, Boulder, Denver, Castle Rock, Greeley are included in the freeze warning where “freezing temperatures between 22 and 28 degrees are expected,” the NWS said. “Frost and freezing conditions expected to kill unprotected sensitive vegetation,”

Ahead of the freeze warning, commuters in Denver will likely wake up to humidity Wednesday morning.

Around 8 to 9 Wednesday in the metro, Denver7’s futurecast shows pockets of possible rain-snow mix.

The NWS said “some light accumulations of snow” are possible along Colorado’s Front Range and urban areas Wednesday morning, but it likely won’t amount to much more than small accumulations on lawns and grassy areas.

Denver’s total snowfall should be between a track and 0.25”, according to the NWS model consensus.

Here’s a look at a few potential Colorado snowfall totals Wednesday night:

Copper Mountain: 3.2″
Fairplay: 2.0″
Bailey: 2.5″
Idaho Springs: 3.0″
Black Hawk: 2.8″
Estes Park: 4.8″
Red Feather Lakes: 1.7″
Vail Pass: 3.0″

After the freeze warning, temperatures in Denver on Halloween will only warm into the 50s. “For trick-or-treaters, it will warm up into the mid to upper 50s during the afternoon, but you’ll definitely want to layer up with these costumes this Halloween.”

Denver’s high temperature swings back into the upper 60s with more sunshine Friday and Saturday before rising clouds return for Sunday, when a high of just 53 degrees is expected ahead of another chance for rain and snow on Monday.

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