Winter is coming: Your Colorado Rockies Opening Day forecast

If you’ve been following me on Twitter (@RockiesWX), you’ll know that I’ve had growing concern that Friday’s matinee, otherwise known as Opening Day, would be cold and wet for the Colorado Rockies. Well, here is the bad news folks. It appears it will be.

See that dark blue and purple... That sinks into Denver right before game time on Friday. You can see it's a brief shot of cold air, but it's going to be struggling to get out of the 30's by 1st pitch. #cowx @rockies pic.twitter.com/KYzffk1E6e
— Coors Field Forecast (@RockiesWX) April 4, 2018

As I mentioned in last week’s update, we are sitting on the edge of the battle between warm and cold air, otherwise known as the storm track. I also mentioned that a couple hundred mile shift north or south was the difference between warmth and sun or cold and potential snow.

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This is where things start to go downhill for all of us warm weather lovers. The storm track is going to sink south starting late Thursday night and the cold front (read: cold air and clouds) will slide through the metro Denver area sometime on early Friday. Behind the front, much colder air and low clouds along with a wind shift will envelop the metro area. That wind shift will push moisture up against the front range mountains, which will push the air up. This is known as upslope flow.

Upslope winds typically result in falling moisture, with temps deciding what we get. Unfortunately, it would appear at this point that we’re going to see mostly, if not all, snow on Friday. The upside to all of this is that the precipitation looks light overall, no matter if it’s rain or snow.

One models precipitation forecast through the long term. Paints a very light rain/snow event for Friday. Still looks to be a cold, wet, and raw day. Stay tuned for my official update at game time this evening. @RoxPileFS @rockies #rockies pic.twitter.com/WIPdBOdNB1
— Coors Field Forecast (@RockiesWX) April 4, 2018

Wait! All is not lost. Well, yeah, it’s mostly lost.

With the April sun, and light rain/snowfall rates, accumulation (if any at all) will be only on grass and raised surfaces. More than anything, I expect a wet, cold April day. Whether or not that leads the Rockies and Major League Baseball to consider postponement remains to be seen.

In recent years, the leash on playing games in inclement weather, as well as postponing with the threat of such, has grown shorter. Opening Day is a huge deal in Denver, and I wouldn’t be surprised if they waited a day for the sunny and near 60-degree weather that Saturday should bring.

Next: Opening Day: What you need to know about parking, security, gate openings and more

I know that’s not what you all wanted to hear, but I’ve been trying to prepare you for it over on Twitter. Feel free to tweet any questions you may have at me here. Go Rockies!

If you’ve been following me on Twitter (@RockiesWX), you’ll know that I’ve had growing concern that Friday’s matinee, otherwise known as Opening Day, would be cold and wet for the Colorado Rockies. Well, here is the bad news folks. It appears it will be.

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