Prolonged cold snap -- and snow -- on the way to Denver and Colorado as part of major Arctic outbreak

A combination of a frigid Arctic plunge and a Pacific cut-off low will be surging into the Rockies and Colorado. The First Alert Weather Team is launching three First Alert Weather Days as a result: Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

There will be two components for a return to winter-like weather.   

There are two cold waves that will begin to push toward Colorado between now and the weekend. The first dry, cold front slides through on Thursday cooling high temperatures down by about 10 degrees from Wednesday's readings.

The second front will be the leading edge of the Arctic air that will send highs below freezing and lows in the single digits Friday into the weekend.

At the same time, a storm system with Pacific moisture will be churning into the southern Rocky Mountains from Arizona into New Mexico. This will add the moisture component to our big weather change and get the snow machine going.

There are already winter weather advisories posted for most of the western and central mountains for Friday morning into Sunday morning. Some areas may see up to a foot of snow or more by Sunday morning. 

There may be more advisories added to the map as we get closer to Friday and the weekend. Some of the northern mountains and the Sangre De Cristos may see at least 5 to 10 inches of snow. Those numbers could go up. Especially, for the Sangres as more snow is expected to fall over southern Colorado.

The Denver metro area and the Eastern Plains should be looking at light snow amounts with most of the accumulation happening on Friday night into Saturday morning.

Temperatures will start to drop Thursday into the weekend. Thursday's high temperatures will be in the 30s and 40s statewide.

By the time we get to Friday and Saturday look for highs only in the teens and 20s across the region. High temperatures will be warmer in the mountains than they will be in Denver or the eastern plains for Friday through Sunday.

Wind chill temperatures may drop to below zero from time to time in many communities running from Friday through Sunday morning. 

The AFC Championship game on Sunday at Empower Field at Mile High will be the coldest game of the season with temperatures between 28 and 26 degrees during the entire game and a small chance for a few passing flurries during the event.

Weather should dry out and warm up by Monday into all of next week with the return of 40s and 50s the the Mile High City and surrounding suburbs.