Finally! Finally! More snow is set to fall in Colorado!

With statewide snowpack at just 17 percent of what’s typical for November 14 – less snowpack than about 36 of 38 seasons since 1987 – the National Weather Service has announced that widespread snow will fall this weekend. While most mountains should get a dusting to a few inches, southwest Colorado could get about a foot of snow if the ‘high end’ forecast holds true. It’s also likely that more snow is on the way after this weekend, but more on that later.

Check out both maps below that depict possible snowfall through Monday morning – first the ‘expected’ snowfall forecast map (80% chance) and then the ‘high-end’ snowfall forecast map (10% chance). In both scenarios, parts of southwest Colorado get up to a foot through Monday morning, with the high-end forecast showing a chance of deeper snow being more widespread in that region, as well as a chance for some other mountainous pockets around the state to get six to eight inches of snow.

As depicted in both maps, the I-25 corridor should be missed entirely, thus Denver’s 200-plus-day stretch with no snow should continue. That might change, however, before the end of the month.

The NOAA and the National Weather Service are predicting a ‘risk of heavy snow’ throughout roughly all of Colorado from November 21 through November 27 (map below) – key word being ‘risk,’ it’s far from certain. This prediction doesn’t mean huge amounts of snow will be falling around the state throughout that entire period, but it could indicate that at least some snow is likely – Denver included. At this point, however, it’s looking like the Mile High City’s next chance of precipitation accompanied by freezing temperatures comes on November 27, and even still, this could show up as rain as the daily high is expected to be 53 degrees that day.

In other words, it’s looking likely that Denver will pass the November 21 date for the city’s ‘second-latest first snow’ that was set in 1934. To set a new ‘latest first snow’ record, however, snow in the city will need to hold off until December 11, passing the record of December 10 set in 2021.

While it’s looking like snow in the mountains this weekend and more snow on the way next week, most forecasts seem to show that those in cities along the I-25 corridor will be waiting a bit longer for fresh flakes. We’ll have to wait and see.

Find additional forecasting information on the National Weather Service website.