Denver bracing for at least 96+ hours of dangerously cold air, several inches of new Colorado snow on the way

An arctic front will sweep through Colorado Friday afternoon with dangerously cold air and accumulating snow lagging behind it for the holiday weekend.  

This is a long duration event in the Denver metro area and across that state. At least 96+ hours will be spent below freezing and two waves of snow are likely.

Confidence is increasing in detail for the first wave of snow and cold but decreases as we begin to focus on the reinforcing shot of cold air and additional snow chances on Sunday.  

Here is everything we know to a high degree of confidence:  

• An arctic front will sweep through the state from the northwest to the southeast on Friday evening. Snow will lag an hour or two behind the front. Exact timing will be key for potential impacts to the evening commute. 
• Another reinforcement of cold air on Sunday, Monday will likely be the coldest day of the blast.
• Odds for another round of snow Sunday night into Monday are increasing.

Now for the nitty gritty…

Arctic front arrives Friday afternoon, snow arrives by evening

There will be a nice start to the day Friday with highs reaching the 40s by the noon. An arctic front approaches in the afternoon and sweeps through the state from northwest to southeast. You’ll feel it as the front passes as temperatures will plummet int he matter of an hour.

Exact timing of the front is uncertain, if it comes a bit ahead of schedule travel impacts are expected for the Friday evening commute. This is an aspect of the storm we will continue to fine-tune. Flash freeze potential will be high at the onset of snow across both I-25 and the mountains. With near-record heat out ahead of the arctic front, it will take roads an hour or two to drop in temperature. This means melted snow will freeze up.

Snow lingers on-and-off on Saturday, things start getting cold 

On-and-off snow will linger through Saturday evening. I’m still favoring a general 2-5″ across the Front Range with 5-9″ for the foothills and portions of I-70. he snow will be dry and fluffy, this means it can accumulate quicker, and these types of systems tend to have a better chance of overperforming. Additionally, banding will be involved. This means a few bands of heavier snow only a few miles wide develop. Those under the heavier bands will pick up a lot of snow, while those outside the band get robbed of moisture and typically end up on the lower end. 

At one point Saturday was the day to watch for extremely cold windchills. The timeline of the extreme cold will be delayed until Sunday. For now windchills will bottom out in the single digits.

Reinforcing shot of cold air arrives Sunday, more snow

Another arctic front will surge across Colorado on Sunday bringing downright bone chilling air. This is where things get interesting temperature-wise. As of now we are forecasting 10 degrees as the high in Denver, but this may need to come down a degree or two. By evening, temperatures plummet below 0 and light snow will spread across much of the state.

Frigid Monday and Tuesday morning

Monday is the day of cold… snow will come to an end and life-threatening wind chills will swoop in. As of now, 6 degrees is the forecast high, but this too may need to be lowered to near 0 degrees. Wind chills will be below 0 degrees all day, reaching a peak Monday night into Tuesday. Wind chills will plummet to -35 degrees with actual temperatures well below 0. 

Stay tuned to CBS Colorado newscasts for updates on the severity of cold and snow headed our way.