After having showers on and off Monday, Tuesday shapes up to be the nicest day of the week.  It will be mostly sunny with slightly below normal temperatures today.  We then return to an unstable pattern for the rest of the work week beginning Wednesday.  Showers will be present the better part of Wednesday, changing to a rain / snow mix into Wednesday night.  By Thursday we will see mostly sporadic snow showers.  Actual amounts of precipitation vary widely between the models – some calling for 0.1″ to 0.5″ of precipitation, others 0.5″ to 1″.  We’ll know more as we move through the week and everything sets up.

The storm that moved through the Front Range yesterday really didn’t yield much for Thornton with a mere 0.03″ of precipitation.  Areas farther south in the metro area saw quite a bit more; our sister station in Arvada had 0.16″ by contrast.  We did also see a little bit of cloud to cloud lightning picked up on our lightning detector which serves as a reminder that thunderstorms will be here soon. 

Look for temperatures today (Friday) to be near 60.  Saturday looks to be the warmest day with a high near 65 but it will be breezy and will cool quickly in the afternoon as a minor disturbance moves through the area.  Sunday will be much like today.  Further ahead, a front arriving on Monday could bring precipitation to the lower elevations here on the plains although the best chance for moisture right now looks to be in the mountains. 

The storm for today didn’t quite set up as expected so its arrival was delayed and we aren’t expecting quite as much out of it at this point.  At this time Thornton is seeing primarily rain showers with a few snow flakes mixed in.  That rain and snow mix will continue off and on throughout the day and we could see some minor accumulations of snow on grassy areas but that will melt quickly.  The weekend is still looking to be great with temperatures slightly above normal getting into the low 60’s. 

Wednesday should be a nice day with temperatures right around the average of 57 degrees.  Change is in the air though as before midnight we should start seeing rain which will turn to snow as the temperature drops overnight.  As Thursday dawns, we’ll have wet conditions with snow showers for a good part of the daylight hours and a high of around 40.  Total accumulations for the event will range from an inch to three inches but with as warm as it has been the snow won’t stick to much beyond some on the grassy areas. 

Friday and into the weekend look for seasonal temperatures and maybe above the average.  All in all it should be a nice weekend.  The first part of next week is still a bit muddled between the models with some showing a chance for precipitation on Monday and Tuesday.  Stay tuned for more information as it gets closer.