Published Friday 4/23 at 11:25 am

The snow level lowered to around 7,700 feet overnight and 1 to 5 inches of snow fell in the mountains. Light rain fell in a number of areas. It did not add up to very much, but it was encouraging to see the ground and streets wet when I woke up.

The high-resolution model I usually rely on shows a decent amount of surface CAPE around the area early this afternoon. CAPE is  Convective Available Potential Energy. High CAPE values indicate that thunderstorms are possible. The highest likelihood would be a storm developing over the higher terrain west of 55o, then drifting over the valley areas. Later this afternoon it shows Archuleta County being favored for development.

Here are those elevated CAPE values.

Just because the model shows it, it does not mean it will happen. I hope it doesn’t, any storm would likely produce more lightning than rain. We will see.

A warmer and windy weekend is in store for us. Here are the projected high temps.

Saturday

Sunday

I mentioned the wind earlier. The strongest winds will be Sunday and Monday afternoon. However, some impressive gusts are still showing up for Saturday afternoon.

The models are still at odds in handling the next system coming into the region Monday night and Tuesday morning. They all show precipitation but vary in how much we will get.

I will be updating the contest overview to add in the additional prizes. This will be out tomorrow morning.

Thanks again to all of you who have participated!

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