Snow is arriving fashionably late to the Christmas party in Colorado this year, but a cold front will make it feel “much” cooler as a “quick round” of wind-driven snow hits El Paso and its neighboring counties on Sunday, according to the National Weather Service in Pueblo.

Snow totals are expected to be on the low end, with new accumulation of less than half an inch in Colorado Springs.

But winds gusting to 50 mph over the high country and 40 mph over the plains could lead to poor visibility and dangerous travel conditions, especially along the mountain passes, forecasters said.

Winter temps will stay for a little while before leaving Colorado Springs again

Sunday is expected to be the coldest day Colorado Springs has had in a few weeks. With a high of around 32 degrees, the city is likely to see snow showers, mainly before 11 a.m., according to the Weather Service.

Sunday night temperatures will drop into the low teens, and the winds will decrease slightly.

Monday will look much the same — just without the snow and less windy conditions. The high with be around 39 degrees, with slight breezes. Temperatures will drop to around 20 degrees Monday night.

Similar conditions are expected in Pueblo, Cañon City and other parts of southern Colorado.

Warm temperatures are expected to return Tuesday, with the Weather Service forecasting a high around 50 degrees in Colorado Springs. Temperatures are expected to stay in the 50s up to Friday.

The weather conditions follow a streak of record-breaking warmth that followed a snowstorm that hit Colorado at the start of December.

According to Weather Service data, the 30-year average for temperatures from December-February in Colorado Springs is 31.6 degrees.

Colorado’s high country has suffered from warm temperatures

No Colorado ski area or resort has surpassed 70 inches of reported or estimated total snowfall amounts for the season heading into the last few days of 2025.

But two snow events — the one this weekend and another expected to kick off 2026 (Jan. 2-5) — could make big waves for the state’s snowpack and ski areas’ abilities to open new terrain.

The European ECWMF model predicts that snow will fall into Sunday morning and some totals could be close to 20 inches on mountaintops around Steamboat, Powderhorn and Wolf Creek.

Forecasted snowfall totals by Sunday morning in the northern mountains are between 7-20 inches with the highest amounts in the Park and Medicine Bow ranges, in the central mountains between 2-16 inches with potentially Monarch seeing very little and Powderhorn the most, and in the southern mountains between 2-10 inches with the highest amounts in the eastern San Juan Mountains near Wolf Creek.