mayjawintastawm

Most places in the Front Range area getting around an inch of rain this afternoon and early evening, so welcome! Lots of places getting snow above 8000 feet, and accumulating in the mountain towns. I don't think I've seen snow falling outside of the high mountains on or after Memorial Day weekend since we moved here 10 years ago.

Actually felt good this AM with DPs in the low 50s. Now it's back to windy and nose-desiccating.

Inside and not at home, but will see how the yard looks later. EDIT: Dry. Less than 0.1" of rain since 4/23. EDIT 2: Finally broke the streak about 8:20 with just under 0.2" rain and a little hail to 0.6". Nice.

You get those nightly here between Memorial Day and late June. I don't know exactly why it is so much louder, maybe drier or less dense air transmits the sound better. One of my dogs absolutely hates it. We've been quite dry through all this- only 0.02" of rain in almost 2 weeks during what is one of the wetter parts of the year climatologically.

We have friends in the business who were updating us- delays, plus rain showers and low level turbulence, made for a less than ideal tour with a couple shortcuts toward the end. Still, they did what they could before they bugged out to Nellis. A 7 hour mission in a fighter with multiple midair refuelings makes for a tough day!

Yeah, down to 8 F one morning and 12 F another one last week, with others in the mid teens. Amazing sustained cold for this time of year. Unfortunately, spring is as gray as fall was after 10/12. All the blossoms on the trees, even those that were not really out yet, are dead. Maybe a few apple trees in shadier locations will recover, hopefully.

And edit: got 3" more this PM so 4" total on this storm, not a total bust after all. With the 4.2" the other day, that makes 11.0" for the month and 89.1" for the season. Pretty sure it's the snowiest "winter season" since we arrived in 2010. BTW, I heard that the majority of the peach crop in Palisade was lost this week. That REALLY stinks. Best produce in Colorado.

Good for you Chinook and ValpoVike! We are busting. Snow didn't begin till 6 AM and it snowed for 2+ hours accumulating 1 inch, then changed to freezing drizzle. What a difference a few miles makes!

It has to do with air pressure. Air moving from a higher to a lower elevation compresses, making the air warmer. Many times the difference is on the order of 5 degrees F per 1000 feet, which can create quite a difference- for example, if the Continental Divide averages around 12,000 feet in CO and the Plains are around 5000 feet, that's a 35 degree difference just from compression. There are of course other factors, but that's the basic reason. As to the part of your question about why it's warmer than the air that has been sitting around at a given elevation for a while, it has to do with cool air sinking. At night, if it isn't windy, cooler air will layer out. So if it's 20 F in Denver on a calm morning, then a westerly wind kicks up from the mountains, you get warmer, compressed air invading the cooler air. Many times the temp can go up 30 F in a couple hours with the combination of a Chinook wind and mixing the layers out. This time of year, you can get what we call "two-coat days": perhaps 18 F (winter coat) at 6 AM, 50 F (spring coat) at 9 AM, and 68 F (no coat) at 2 PM. Then again, you can get 8 F within a couple of days after 70 F (this happened Sat PM-Tues AM at Centennial Airport) when cold air rushes down the lee side of the mountains. Tough place to be a plant!!

2" at my place by 7 AM today- very fluffy. Couldn't be more than 0.1" WE total, probably more like 0.06". Hoping for more to moisten things up. Vegetation doesn't like to be freeze-dried.

Long as it doesn't get below 20 it should be fine... the buds are starting to come out and it would be nice to see flowers and fruit, especially this year. We've had too many 15 degree mornings in April the past few years.

2.8" new at our house, quite fluffy. Most fell at 18-21 degrees. Good thing the buds haven't quite popped yet.

1.5" overnight, for a March total of 12.9" and 78.1" on the season. Approaching a real winter!

We ended up with 9.4" of heavy wet snow after at least a quarter inch of rain. Great moisture!

We had 4 inches of paste accumulate from 8:30 AM to 1 PM. Will measure again after getting home from work. I'd guess probably another 4, just looking out the window.

6:30 AM: moderate rain, 37.1 F 8:30 AM: changed to light wet snow, 33.7 F

Right. My place now has a "winter storm warning for 4 to 10 inches" with 3.4 inches total at about 34 F predicted, and Castle Rock has a "Blizzard warning for 6 to 12 inches" with 4.7 inches total at about 32 F predicted. Kinda weird. EDIT, 5 PM: they must have been updating the different forecast products because they're now in line (7" here and 8" in Castle Rock). Still will be interesting. Historically, we change to snow sooner than predicted about 3/4 of the time. Gonna be one of those "heart attack storms" shoveling 8:1 density snow.

Yes- I'm planning to find the places with the best takeout and hopefully help prevent them from closing when this $&&t really hits hard.

Would be nice. Weather excitement around here has been somewhat dryslotted lately, other than the rain the other night, which all fell between midnight and 6 AM so was not exciting at all.

The BOMB CYCLONE.... (imagine echo there) - only time I've ever had to use mountaineering skills getting home from work.

I am kind of glad I don't still live in southern New England with this winter there... absolutely maddening for those who like snow there. "Missed it by THAT much" gets pretty old.

Looking like September and January along the Front Range. Could Albuquerque have a colder March than Denver? Sheesh.

Yesterday felt like Chicago. Brr. Today was truly a 2-coat day: started at 9F and topped out near 45. Feb precip at my place was almost 2 feet.(I'm guessing it's done). 65.2" on the season. Something tells me March will be like January though... hope not.

2" total from the past 2 and a half days; 0.5" monday and 1.5" yesterday. Cold this AM, down to 9 at our house! Hope that not all the storms the next 3 weeks will be as suppressed as they look now.

Welcome and congrats on the new job! I promise we won't complain about your forecasts. Probably the biggest shock will be $$$$$ for living in the BOU area.