Colorado Weather: Mild start to the week before DEEP FREEZE

DENVER(CBS)-  Well if you thought the last few days have been cold, just wait for Thursday. A big surge of Arctic air will be pushing into the the Rockies and bringing in some of the coldest December temperatures that Denver has seen in 6 years! 

As a result, we have a FIRST ALERT WEATHER DAY posted for the dangerous cold wave expected to start Wednesday night into Thursday.

Monday will be mild mannered with sunny skies and Denver temps near 40 degrees again. 

Cooler air will begin to slowly push in for Tuesday and Wednesday. With limited moisture only a few passing clouds are expected with the start of the week. 

Wednesday is the first day of Winter and right on cue an extremely cold blast of Arctic air will take a chunk out of most of the nation from the Rockies to the east coast for the second half of the week. 

This will send temperatures tumbling into the DEEP freeze with below zero highs and lows across the Front Range and northeastern plains including Denver.

Snow will begin in the mountains Wednesday and flow into Denver and the Front Range Wednesday night. Early models are subject to change this far out but, at this point at least a few of the early projections show a 2 to 4 inch snowfall possible for the Thursday morning commute.