Lots of snow heading our way.

After a weekend of record heat, Denver is below freezing and covered in snow. We woke this morning to gray and dreary conditions and light freezing drizzle just about everywhere. The Foothills got a rather heavy dosing of freezing drizzle, with most trees and some roads coated in a glaze of ice. That has since changed to snow for everyone.

Courtesy of GIPHY

Snow will continue to be light until this afternoon when snowfall rates will increase to 1-2" per hour. That's enough to snarl traffic and caused a really big headache for the evening commute. 

Freezing drizzle across the plains this morning will change over to snow later this morning & persist into the evening. Snow, heavy at times, mountains & foothills thru Tuesday morning. Plan for slow & difficult travel across northern Colorado thru midday Tuesday. #COwx pic.twitter.com/lhVkYKNeze

— NWS Boulder (@NWSBoulder) February 3, 2020

Winter Weather Advisories

A winter weather advisory is in place for Denver through 6 a.m. Tuesday morning. Snow will continue throughout the day and into the overnight hours. Snow will also continue for a good portion of Tuesday with the possibility of additional snow to fall and accumulate. 

For Monday, snow will remain light through lunchtime, then, due to some dynamics that will start to increase our snowfall rates, will we really start to see the snow pile up. 

We are on track to receive 5-10 inches of snow for the Denver metro area. Those on the east side, like towards Aurora and Denver International Airport, will see the lower end of those amounts. Those near downtown Denver and Centennial will see the higher end of those amounts. Snow will taper off through the overnight hours, but it will remain to snow lightly through the day on Tuesday. The snow on Tuesday will taper off by the mid-to-late afternoon hours. 

A winter storm warning is also in place for areas west of Denver. This is because snowfall amounts will be higher with 6-14 inches of snow possible in the Foothills and along areas of the Western Palmer Divide. This is due to the upslope nature of this storm. During events like these, when upslope snow is occurring, these areas are almost always hit the hardest. 

Travel Conditions

It's advised to leave work early this afternoon, sometime before 2 or 3 p.m. Monday evening's commute is looking to be extremely tough.

The National Weather Service said, "We want to emphasize the difficult travel conditions expected for this evening`s rush hour. The moderate to heavy snowfall rates along with the light glaze of ice on the roads after this morning`s freezing drizzle will combine to make extremely slick road conditions. We encourage people to travel slowly or to get home during the early to mid-afternoon when conditions won`t be as bad."

This is strong wording and it should be noted. 

Plan on slow & difficult afternoon & evening commute along the I-25 Urban Corridor. Snow will become more widespread this afternoon w/roads becoming icy & snowpacked. Visibility will also be reduced at times. Statewide road conditions: https://t.co/uoUwxQXFoP Plan ahead!! pic.twitter.com/V24wQsWPIj

— NWS Boulder (@NWSBoulder) February 3, 2020

Travel will be difficult from Monday afternoon through Tuesday morning. Travel will remain tough through Wednesday morning due to additional snow and bitterly cold temperatures. We will see some sunshine return on Wednesday, but temperatures will struggle to make it into the 30s, so don't expect too much melting to occur on shaded or untreated roads.