Colorado Weather: Mountain Snow Will Slow Holiday Travel Starting Monday Afternoon

DENVER (CBS4) - An arctic front will move into Colorado on Monday with a major temperature drop and a few rounds of snow. By the time we get into Tuesday and Wednesday morning, most places along and east of Interstate 25 will be anywhere from 60-70 degrees colder than the highs on Sunday. The cold weather pattern will stick around for the entire upcoming week.

Monday will be a busy day for travel across Colorado's high country thanks to the President's Day holiday. The good news for travelers is that while it may start snowing during the morning hours in the northwest part of the state, the brunt of the snowfall doesn't get underway until the early to mid-afternoon. Snow will spread into the foothills west of Denver closer to sunset.

The first round of snow will end sometime on Tuesday morning but it will be followed by another round late Tuesday and into the day on Wednesday. When all is said and done we will see many mountain locations with at least 10 inches of new snow. This is great news for the snowpack which is running below normal in half of Colorado's eight major river basins.

A gradual clearing trend will get underway on Thursday in the mountains but the warming trend will be very slow. Most mountain towns will stay near or below freezing for the rest of February.