Today’s Forecast:
Freezing fog and low clouds are slowly pushing out of the southern Front Range Corridor this morning. A Freezing Fog Advisory is in effect for Colorado Springs and Pueblo until 9:00 AM. A backdoor cold front - meaning a front moving in from the east or northeast, opposite to the main direction fronts travel here (west to east) - swung in on Friday night as expected. This is a shallow cold air mass, with the deeper cold air hanging back closer to the center of the country. The result is that the mountains were taller than the front and the front stalled over I-25 into early today.
As upper-level northwesterly winds return, they'll mix down and push that shallow, cold, dense air mass back out to the east. This means as you watch the sky this morning, first the fog will transition to low clouds that get progressively further up off the ground over time. Second, it means that by late morning your skies are clearing and we're back to full sunshine this afternoon. It will be a mild end to January with highs warming to the low 50s - a solid 30-35 degree swing from our morning lows, which is par for the course here.
Colorado Springs forecast: High: 53; Low: 25.
Pueblo forecast: High: 54; Low: 23.
Canon City forecast: High: 58; Low: 29.
Woodland Park forecast: High: 47; Low: 21.
Tri-Lakes forecast: High: 50s; Low: 20s.
Plains forecast: High: 40s; Low: 20s.
Walsenburg and Trinidad forecast: High: 55/56; Low: 26/25.
Mountains forecast: High: 40s; Low: 20s.
Extended outlook forecast:
Light downslope breezes will remain this evening. We'll quickly drop to the low 30s if you have any late evening plans, but then temperatures will fall much more slowly through the rest of the night. The first day of February will be sunny and warm with a strong ridge of high pressure off to the west the main driver of the pattern in Colorado. Highs will warm into the upper 50s. Our forecast is warmer Sunday in Colorado Springs and Pueblo - than the forecast high in Miami! Much of the eastern US will be under the influence of an arctic airmass.
Monday will start mild - with downslope breezes and wave clouds are also likely. Highs will be reached earlier than usual, by 1/2PM at the latest, as a cold front pushes in from the north. The front is mainly dry and it will remain breezy through the remainder of the afternoon with northerly gusts in the 20-25 mph range. Additional upper level energy arriving Tuesday will provide a chance of light snow showers primarily on Tuesday night into Wednesday, as the moisture associated with the upper-level system interacts with another potential backdoor cold front. This is critical, because the upper level system is coming from the northwest. That's not favorable for snow in southern Colorado - we need upslope flow. The cold front would provide the upslope flow needed locally to provide lift to a pool of moisture. Either way, if we are lucky enough to get any moisture, the impacts would be extremely low with snow totals under an inch based on current data.
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Curious about the First Alert 5 Weather Storm Impact Scale? Check out our cheatsheet explainer.
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