For 1/21/09: The pattern finally starting to shift in the west and this high pressure ridge will be cycling clear of the area through today. Look for more sunny skies dominating into the afternoon but light high altitude cloud cover will start to push in with heavier cloud cover expected overnight. Unfortunately this first change will be pretty docile and will provide limited mixing and this inversion will be holding on for a bit.

Last night we saw the classic result with the overnight low in Crested Butte dropping to -2 while Gunnison saw -18 degrees this morning. Even with the sunny skies it will be a slow rebound for the lower valleys to hit a high in the high teens or low 20’s. The north end of the valley and higher elevations will climb to around 30 again. The cloud cover building in tonight should insulate a bit against the cold lows but look for lows right around 0 and well below for the river valleys.

This slow change in the pattern will mean snow into tomorrow and continuing into the weekend but accumulations will be limited unless we see some significant additions to the dynamic. A surprise is not out of the question so do that snow dance but get outside to enjoy another beautiful day.

Look for a complete Crested Butte and Gunnison weather report, 24 hour trends and real time weather information now available at WWW.CBTV.TV.