Denver residents can expect rain later Tuesday, with afternoon showers giving way to a chance of thunderstorms after 5 p.m. and possible heavy rains into the evening — before the rain gives way to snow about 3 a.m. Wednesday.

A “significant” weather system is expected to move into northeastern and north central Colorado on Tuesday afternoon, with widespread and locally heavy precipitation anticipated, according to the National Weather Service.

The weather service has issued a winter storm warning for Colorado’s mountains, where up to 2 feet of snow is expected Tuesday afternoon through Wednesday.

Heavy snowfall is expected for the mountains, foothills and Palmer Divide, with amounts in some areas east of the Continental Divide upward of 2 feet. Higher elevations of Park, Jefferson, Clear Creek and Gilpin counties will see heavy snow.

In metro Denver, the high temperature Tuesday will be 52 degrees, forecasters said, and temperatures likely will decrease to 33 degrees Tuesday night before more rain falls on Wednesday.

“Below 6,000 elevation — pretty much all Denver, Boulder and Fort Collins — we really are not expecting much in the way of snow. We’ll see probably less than an inch of moisture in all those areas. It will probably be just rain in those areas,” NWS meteorologist Russell Danielson said.

It’s a matter of temperature, Danielson said. Above 6,000 feet, “that’s where the rain will change to snow, and it probably will be heavy in some locations,” he said. “It will just be too warm and moist for snow in the Denver metro area.”

The heaviest snow is expected in the mountains at elevations higher than 8,000 feet above sea level. However, meteorologists said 1 foot or more could fall in the foothills west of the Interstate 25 corridor.

On Tuesday night, up to 1 foot of snow likely will fall along the Palmer Divide between Denver and Colorado Springs. The rates of snowfall could be intense with up to 2.5 inches falling within an hour, according to the weather service.