A LONG AWAITED CHANGE TO THE LARGE-SCALE WEATHER PATTERN APPEARS IN STORE THIS WEEKEND THAT WILL BRING COLDER TEMPERATURES TO EASTERN UTAH AND WESTERN COLORADO...AND A SHOT OF SNOW TO MANY LOCATIONS AS WELL.
A COLD STORM SYSTEM WILL DROP OUT OF THE GULF OF ALASKA ON FRIDAY AND SWING ACROSS THE NORTHERN ROCKIES INTO THE DAKOTAS ON SATURDAY.
A TRAILING COLD FRONT WILL REACH NORTHEAST UTAH AND NORTHWEST COLORADO SATURDAY...BRINGING MEASURABLE SNOWFALL TO THE NORTHERN MOUNTAINS. STRONG GUSTY WESTERLY WINDS WILL ALSO CREATE AREAS OF BLOWING SNOW.
ACCUMULATING SNOWFALL WILL ALSO SPREAD ACROSS THE CENTRAL AND SOUTHERN MOUNTAINS SATURDAY NIGHT AS A SECOND DISTURBANCE DRIVE THE COLD FRONT THROUGH OUR AREA. MANY CENTRAL AND NORTHERN VALLEYS STAND A GOOD CHANCE OF SEEING SOME SNOW FALL AS WELL...AS SNOW LEVELS QUICKLY DROP TO VALLEY FLOORS BEHIND THE FRONT. THE COLD NORTHWESTERLY FLOW WILL KEEP SOME SNOW SHOWERS OVER THE WESTERN COLORADO MOUNTAINS ON SUNDAY.
AFTER THE UNSEASONABLY MILD TEMPERATURES OF LATE...THE WEEKEND STORM WILL BRING A SHARP CHANGE TO COLDER TEMPERATURES. HIGH TEMPERATURES ON SUNDAY COULD BE AS MUCH AS 15 TO 20 DEGREES COLDER THAN ON FRIDAY. LOW TEMPERATURES SUNDAY NIGHT ARE LIKELY TO BE IN THE TEENS AND SINGLE DIGITS ACROSS THE ENTIRE AREA.
SNOWFALL THIS WEEKEND IS EXPECTED TO FAVOR THE NORTHERN AND CENTRAL MOUNTAINS...ESPECIALLY ON THE NORTHWEST AND NORTH FACING SLOPES.
NORTHERLY FLOW SATURDAY NIGHT INTO SUNDAY...HOWEVER...MAY ALSO BRING INCREASED SNOWFALL AS FAR SOUTH AS THE NORTHWEST SAN JUAN MOUNTAINS.
FORECAST CONFIDENCE IS BEGINNING TO INCREASE IN THE BIGGER PICTURE...YET UNCERTAINTY CONTINUES WITH MANY IMPORTANT DETAILS SUCH AS THE STORM/S EVENTUAL STRENGTH AND TRACK. PLEASE MONITOR THE LATEST STATEMENTS AND FORECASTS THROUGH LOCAL MEDIA...THE GRAND JUNCTION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WEB SITE AT WWW.WEATHER.GOV...AND OUR FACEBOOK PAGE.