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Updated, 12:05pm: Hot on the heels of a quick storm that covered Denver in a blanket of white Friday night, a second, much more power storm has its sights set to arrive over the city this evening. Round one gave Denver an official measurement of 2.0 inches of snow but round two stands to deliver a bigger punch.

Snow is going to develop in the mountains this afternoon and then spread to the foothills by late afternoon. The metro area will begin to see the white stuff through the evening hours. From mid-evening through mid-afternoon Sunday, heavy snow accumulations are possible.

Anticipating a possible major winter storm, the National Weather Service has issued a Winter Storm Warning from 6:00pm this evening through 5:00pm Sunday. Total accumulations from 8 to 16 inches in the foothills and eastern slopes of the mountains are possible. In the Denver metro area we are looking at 6 to 12 inches with some high amounts possible in isolated areas. On the plains east of Denver 4 to 9 inches of snow is possible.

Remember, a Winter Storm Warning means hazardous winter weather conditions are imminent or highly likely. Significant snow accumulations are occurring or expected and strong winds are possible. The winter weather may make travel very hazardous or impossible.

ThorntonWeather.com is of course your source for local information on the storm as it develops.  We will also be updating the Denver Weather Examiner site as things develop.  Here are some quick links to pages you may find handy:

• Current Advisories and Warnings
• ThorntonWeather.com Denver Doppler Radar
• Live Conditions in Thornton
• ThorntonWeather.com Weather Webcams
• Current Road Condtions
• Follow ThorntonWeather.com on Twitter
• Become a fan on Facebook to get conditions, forecasts & more
• And of course check out the Denver Weather Examiner

Why do we link to Examiner.com?  Click here to find out.

Original story, 5:34am: Round one of two winter storm systems is over and we will see an intermission between the two for most of today. ThorntonWeather.com recorded 2.1 inches of snow yesterday which was pretty much what was expected.  Tonight’s storm however is expected to well exceed that amount.  If you have errands to run and such, it is best to get that all done today before the bigger of the two storms arrives tonight.

For today, there may be a few snowflakes falling but for the most part precipitation will be negligible. Temperatures today will reach a not-so-balmy high of 37 degrees. The chance for precipitation increases after noon but the most likely time we will start to see widespread accumulations is in the evening and then after midnight tonight.

On Sunday temperatures remain cold with the high only reaching near freezing and snow expected for the better part of the day. Total snow accumulations between tonight and the end of the day tomorrow could be between 6 and 12 inches.

However, predicting the timing and amount of snowfall with this system is not a slam dunk as there are a number of unsettled variables yet. In their forecast discussion, the National Weather Service sums the uncertainty up by saying, “confidence in the potential for snow is still high but the magnitude of the snowfall and where the lion’s share of it eventually falls is still in question.” We will have a better idea later today on what exactly can be expected in the Denver area.

A Winter Storm Watch remains in effect from this evening through Sunday afternoon. The area under the watch covers much of eastern Colorado stretching from south of Pueblo, through the Denver area and into Wyoming.

Tags: forecast, winter weather

This entry was posted on Saturday, November 14th, 2009 at 12:00pm MST and is filed under Thornton Weather. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.