The average date of first snow in Colorado Springs is October 26th so the time is right to keep our eyes out for the first snow of the season. Officially, the first snow is said to have occurred when a tenth of an inch or greater falls.

It’s possible late next week that parts of the FOX21 viewing area gets that first snow, in fact, on Friday morning it continues to look more and more likely. When forecasting weather that is 5 to 7 days into the future, we are looking for pieces, or a pattern, that produces certain types of weather.

Here’s what we’ve got from Wednesday (Oct. 11) into Friday (Oct. 13) of next week. A digging jet stream (colored in teal) that ends up south of Colorado, a storm that brings moisture with it, and strengthening expecting as it moves east of the mountains.

Use the image slider to compare two different computer model forecasts for next Thursday of clouds, precipitation (rain in green, snow in blue) and the jetstream (teal). Notice the similarities of the storm circulation (closed white lines), but differences in position and strength.

Important questions will need to be figured out through the weekend and early next week. How specifically is the storm going to evolve? How far north or south will the jetstream be? How far east or west is the storm when it develops into a circulation? What time of day will it be when the precipitation is occurring – in the warmest part of the day or the coldest part of the night? What elevation are you at? That will play a role on if you get rain or snow too.

In short, the pieces are there for the higher terrain of the Palmer Divide, Teller County and the Wet Mountains to get the first snow of the season. Lower than that, we’ll have to wait and see. Stay tuned!

Use the image slider to compare the same two different computer model forecasts for accumulating snow for late next week.