Golden fall color could be accented by the arrival of high elevation snow in northern and central mountain areas this weekend. 

According to National Weather Service meteorologist Russell Danielson a “pretty strong storm” is forecast to begin Saturday morning and into Sunday, with the potential for “pretty significant rain for September standards.”

Daytime temperatures in valley areas Saturday will drop from the 60s to 50s, with overnight lows in some cases falling below freezing. In some of the highest elevation areas, that may translate to as much as 2-4 inches of snow accumulation, though Danielson said that will be dependent on the storm’s path. 

“We’ll see if we get a direct hit from this storm,” Danielson said. “It’s still pretty uncertain.”

OpenSnow.com founding meteorologist Joel Gratz, in a Sept. 16 blog post, predicted there could be snowfall at as low as 10,000 to 11,000 feet in mountain areas near and north of Interstate 70 this Saturday and Sunday. 

“Snow should be mostly confined to the higher elevations,” Gratz wrote. “Otherwise, fall color is starting to show, with an average peak during late September.”

When aspen leaves reach peak saturation is dependent on elevation and latitude, with earlier color at higher elevations and locations farther to the north, Gratz wrote. 

Most predictions show northern mountain areas could peak over the next two weeks, while central mountain areas along I-70 could see the height of their color around the end of September and beginning of October. Forests in the southern parts of the state, like the San Juans, could peak as late as the second and third week of October.