DENVER — Colorado’s weather alert map is lit up with a plethora of watches Thursday ranging from a winter storm watch in the mountains to a tornado watch across the far northeastern plains.
The season’s first tornado warning was issued for Washington County until 4 p.m. Thursday by the National Weather Service (NWS) in Boulder.
A tornado watch was issued until midnight for the following Colorado counties:
- Baca
- Kiowa
- Prowers
Additionally, a tornado watch is in effect until 9 p.m. for these three Colorado counties:
- Cheyenne
- Kit Carson
- Logan
- Phillips
- Sedgwick
- Washington
- Yuma
“We’re going to see more thunderstorm activity showing up across eastern Colorado through the evening,” said Denver7 Meteorologist Stacey Donaldson. “In through tonight, we could see larger hail, wind and lightning especially up into far northeastern Colorado and generally thunderstorms, a possibility for the Front Range and Denver area.”
While storms were a possibility in Denver Thursday evening, the metro's hourly planner showed conditions switching to cloudy skies after 8 p.m. before a "super-soaker of a storm" arrives this weekend.
In addition to the tornado watch for north and eastern Colorado, severe thunderstorm warnings were likely through Thursday evening.
"These storms are just blowing up and putting down huge hail out there," said Denver7 Meteorologist Danielle Grant. "Strong storms still going to be likely throughout the rest of this evening, it's going to be an eyes-to-the-sky kind of night."
Grant said at around 11 p.m. Thursday there was a possibility of strong storms near Fort Collins through Greeley before the storm system shifts east early Friday morning, which will bring a cloudy start to the day in Denver before round-two arrives.
"Maybe a brief break mid day, a couple pockets of sunshine in Denver, but that's going to be about it, because the showers make a comeback by tomorrow afternoon in a big way" said Grant. "The showers will be widespread as we go through your Friday night then stick around through the overnight into much of the day Saturday."
After a dry and warm couple of days in Denver, the spring weather system is expected to bring scattered storms to the metro and Front Range on Friday then transitioning to more soaking rains Saturday into Sunday.
“We could see around 1 to 2 inches of liquid here for the Front Range,” added Donaldson.
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While the precipitation in Denver should remain as rain, heavy snow is expected to fall in Colorado’s north central mountains.
A winter storm watch is set to go into effect Friday evening into Saturday night for areas in Rocky Mountain National Park, Medicine Bow Range, Mountains of Summit County, Mosquito Range and Indian Peaks, according to the NWS.
Portions of Jackson, Larimer, Grand, Boulder, Summit, Gilpin, Clear Creek and Park Counties are included in the winter storm watch.
Check the latest Colorado weather alerts
The NWS said snowfall totals could range between 6 and 24 inches with the “highest amounts across the Front Range Mountains above 10,000 feet.”
The NWS warned travel in these areas could become slick and hazardous.
A winter storm watch will also go into effect for portions of Teller County, Rampart Range and Pikes Peak starting Friday afternoon through Saturday evening, said the NWS.
Further west, a winter weather advisory will go into effect Friday at 6 p.m. until early Sunday morning for Colorado’s high country.
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In addition to the winter and storm alerts, a high fire danger was a concern for southern Colorado where a red flag warning remained in effect on Thursday.
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