Colorado Weather: Holiday weekend warmth before Monday front

DENVER(CBS)-  Just in time for Christmas weekend a nice warming and melting trend is in the works. As cold air moves away from Colorado a more northwesterly drying flow will move in for Christmas Eve and the early part of Christmas Day.

There will be a mix of clouds and sunshine over eastern parts of the state including Denver for Saturday. Along with that a few snow flurries in the northern mountains. 

Temperatures will be much more tolerable by afternoon for most areas of our home state. With 40s to low 50s over the Denver metro area.

It will be smooth sailing for Santa Christmas Eve! Skies will be mostly clear to partly cloudy with lows in the 20s. Perfect for reindeer and sledding.

Christmas Day will be even warmer for the Denver metro area with increasing afternoon clouds. 

There is a small chance for a few flurries of snow Sunday night for parts of the Front Range and plains including Denver. Snow amounts will be very small with little to no accumulation. 

The mountains may see 1 to 4 inches of snow during the day on Christmas into Christmas night.