Winter is expected to get a little more real this week with an increasing chance of snow in the mountains and a rain-snow mix in the valleys through Monday.

Paul Frisbie, forecaster with the National Weather Service in Grand Junction, said temperatures in the valleys of Southwest Colorado likely will remain too warm to get much snow, but accumulations of an inch are possible tonight and into Thursday.

“The best chance for snow in the valleys will be the early-morning hours when the temperatures drop below freezing,” Frisbie said.

Frisbie expects accumulations in the San Juan Mountains of Southwest Colorado to be 4 to 8 inches tonight into Thursday, with an increasing chance of additional accumulation Friday and into the weekend when another storm moves into the region.

Highs in Durango and nearby valleys through Monday should be in the mid-40s, keeping whatever valley precipitation that might fall mostly as rain.

There’s a chance the storm could increase in severity Friday and into the weekend, but that’s more uncertain, Frisbie said Tuesday night.

A storm off the Southern California coast will be coming through the Four Corners this weekend, but Frisbie said determining the precipitation from it was difficult to predict Tuesday night.

For Durango, the National Weather Service website showed a 10 percent chance of a rain-snow mix Tuesday night increasing to a 60 percent chance today and a 70 percent chance tonight .

On Thursday, the website listed a 50 percent chance of a rain-snow mix for the day and the night.

parmijo@durangoherald.com