Winter weather will come charging back into the region this weekend, and the National Weather Service has issued a mountain Winter Storm Warning from Friday afternoon all the way through Monday. There are two separate systems coming through, the first of which will bring snow above 6,500-7,000′ on Friday afternoon through Saturday. Another storm front will come in later Sunday, this one colder, which will drop snow levels all the way down to the valley floors. The mountains will provide enough lift to keep precipitation up there going almost continually between the two storms, and although things may ease up a bit Saturday night into Sunday morning, it is best you get any mountain travel out of the way before late Friday afternoon. By the time the second storm ends we could be looking at another 4-5 feet of snow in the upper elevations of the mountains.

In the valleys, initially there will be a fair amount of shadowing late Friday, but enough spillover early Saturday to make some rain almost a sure bet. The second storm Sunday night into Monday could create some commuting issues with slippery roads Monday morning.