DENVER — If you're reading this in or near Denver, you probably thought you'd wake up to at least some snow on Tuesday morning.
But, the bulk of the snow stayed just east of Denver, perhaps leaving you wondering what might've happened.
Heavy snow lashed areas just east of Denver International Airport, with some totals likely to top a foot once the storm finishes some time on Wednesday. Meanwhile, in the mountains, several inches of snow piled up, with some higher elevations along and north of I-70 getting over a foot of accumulation.
Yet Denver got basically nothing. Two weather factors played into the urban corridor's near-complete snow shutout.
First, and most importantly, a narrow band of heavy snow developed on the northwest side of a powerful area of low pressure over Nebraska. While that band moved through much of eastern Colorado, it barely missed the urban corridor.
If the band had been 25-50 miles west of where it ended up, it probably would've meant a full-on blizzard for Denver on Tuesday morning.
On Monday, computer forecast models appeared to nudge that snow band close to Denver. As a result, a Winter Weather Advisory was in place for Denver and areas along and east of I-25.
The other primary driver behind the Denver snow shutout was the positioning of the area of low pressure.
Because the low ended up being just far enough to the northeast, it meant that winds came out of the north and the northwest. That meant Denver and the urban corridor got a drying downsloping wind.
That, coupled with the missed snow band, meant Denver got left out of the snow on Thursday.
SUGGESTED VIDEOS: Colorado Climate