After a night of freezing temperatures in the single digits around Denver and below zero in the mountains, snow will return across the state Wednesday evening, according to the National Weather Service.

According to NWS forecasters, overnight temperatures in the Denver metro area reached 8 degrees early Wednesday morning, but wind chill made them feel like 9 degrees below zero.

That’s more than 10 degrees less than the average low temperature for Denver in January of 18.7 degrees, according to NWS data.

The windy conditions will also ensure cool air in the city on Wednesday. High temperatures are forecast to be around 41 degrees in Denver, but the chilly wind will make it as cold as 2 degrees below zero.

Up in the Colorado mountains, especially above 10,000 feet elevation, temperatures will be as cold as 15 degrees below zero in windy conditions, NWS forecasters said.

Between Wednesday night, when the snowfall is expected, and Friday morning, NWS forecasters expect:

• Between 2 and 6 inches of snow in downtown Denver, Arvada, Aurora, Brighton, Broomfield, Centennial, Highlands Ranch, Lakewood, Littleton, Northglenn, Parker and at Denver International Airport;
• 4 inches of snow in Fort Collins, Loveland, Berthoud and Evergreen;
• 1 to 2 inches of snow on Copper Mountain, Vail Pass and Breckenridge Peak Eight;
• 2 to 3 inches of snow at the Eisenhower Tunnels;
• 4 to 8 inches of snow in the Sangre de Cristo Range of the Rocky Mountains of southern Colorado, including Bushnell Peak, Culebra Peak and North La Veta Pass;
• 3 to 4 inches of snow on Floyd Hill;
• 2 to 4 inches in Fort Morgan, Brush and Byers.

“Light snow is expected in most areas Tuesday, with strong northwest winds over the Plains in the afternoon,” NWS forecasters said in a Hazardous Weather Outlook.