(SOUTHERN COLORADO) — Much-needed moisture is on the way to southern Colorado through the middle of the week.

Moderate drought has developed over the last several months along the Highway 50 corridor and over mountain areas. While numerous showers are expected Monday and Wednesday, Tuesday will bring solid and consistent rain to the area for most of the day and overnight. Don’t plan on doing anything outside on Tuesday that requires dry conditions. By Thursday, we’ll return to more normal afternoon and early evening type thunderstorm chances, mainly over and near the mountains.

The moisture will be significant whether it falls as rain or snow. In total, melted snow and rain amounts will likely be between 1.5″ and 2.5″ from the eastern mountains toward Kansas. The bulk of this is expected to come on Tuesday.

Of course, we’re still in the time of year when snow can be an issue for Colorado. Overall, this is a warm storm that isn’t going to pull in any Canadian air at any point, so the impacts from snow are expected to remain over higher elevations this time.

We start Sunday evening and overnight very warm, with many mountain areas staying above freezing into Monday morning, but gradually cool into Wednesday morning when the rain/snow line will be at it’s lowest. While flakes may mix in down to about 6,500′ early Wednesday, impacts from any snow will remain higher than that.

Use the slider in the image below to see how elevation will play a role from winter driving impacts to where snowflakes may mix in.