Chinook Posted December 6, 2011 Author Share Posted December 6, 2011 THAT was snort my coffee funny. -4 at my house this AM. Last night coming home from work crossing the Cherry Creek Dam the moon illuminated some fantastic sea smoke (or whatever they call it inland) on the lake. This AM there was new ice covering most of the lake. Last year it was Jan 10th before this happened! It's always important to seek shelter or get the video camera when you see several funnel clouds. Also put on that winter coat and don't slip on the ice when filming. "Sea smoke" is normal terminology over the oceans or Great Lakes and "steam fog" can be used in general. Still expecting 8 to 11 degrees F below normal for the next 7-8 days. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chinook Posted December 9, 2011 Author Share Posted December 9, 2011 I am taking a look at the models for 4-5 days in the future. It looks like a strong upper low will be in Arizona and kick out. The GFS at Dec. 14 (00z) to Dec 15 00z shows some promise for some snow, but it looks like this trough will kick out of the desert without any type of surface high or supply of upslope at 850mb. I am looking at the GFS 108 hour, valid Wed. Dec. 14 at 00z. Weak warm advection with south wind may keep us a bit above freezing. The 00z ECMWF does something different with the northern stream. It has the desert cut-off low kicking out and flooding the region with 850mb temps above freezing at 120hr and 144hr, actually not all that different from the GFS in that respect. This storm should provide the San Juan mountains with some decent snow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nomad Posted December 10, 2011 Share Posted December 10, 2011 Not much action lately or any coming up for the metro area really. The mid range looks like the mountains may finally start getting in on the act a little more. That'll be good for the ski resorts with Christmas right around the corner. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlizzardWx Posted December 10, 2011 Share Posted December 10, 2011 Overall a very boring pattern continues. Inversion season here in Utah. Although most models show some moisture on Thursday, guess we will see but it does look pretty good at this time. After that is anybodys guess. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vandy Posted December 10, 2011 Share Posted December 10, 2011 Not much action lately or any coming up for the metro area really. The mid range looks like the mountains may finally start getting in on the act a little more. That'll be good for the ski resorts with Christmas right around the corner. Going all the way back to around last May, we seem to get 2-3 storms clustered in a week or two period and then nothing for a month or two. The monsoon weeks were an exception of course. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chinook Posted December 10, 2011 Author Share Posted December 10, 2011 I have about 3" on the ground. Yesterday we had dense fog with about 20 degrees, before sunrise. KFNL 091135Z AUTO 00000KT M1/4SM OVC002 M06/M07 A3017 RMK AO1 This morning, there was good visibility, with about 15 degrees. The Los Angeles cut-off that will happen in 2 days is hardly worth discussing, as mentioned in my last post. Things might be interesting in a week (12/17) but I won't put too much faith in one prediction. Looks like a shortwave dives far south through Nevada/Utah at that time. The latest ECMWF (12z) has this shortwave cutting off in central AZ, with -18C temps in Fort Collins, and cold air pouring down east of the Rockies quite quickly. Yikes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vandy Posted December 10, 2011 Share Posted December 10, 2011 Brrr... sounds like a great day to fly outta here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tacoman25 Posted December 13, 2011 Share Posted December 13, 2011 Been a cold December so far. DEN is running -10.9 for the month. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlizzardWx Posted December 13, 2011 Share Posted December 13, 2011 Had 3/4 of snow today but its all gone as it mixed out the inversion. It was fun though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RIC Airport Posted December 14, 2011 Share Posted December 14, 2011 Down to about 30-40% of the ground covered at my place. Had a lot of melting to take place today. I know its been cold, but it's been a bit surprising that snow has stuck around for so long. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tacoman25 Posted December 14, 2011 Share Posted December 14, 2011 Down to about 30-40% of the ground covered at my place. Had a lot of melting to take place today. I know its been cold, but it's been a bit surprising that snow has stuck around for so long. Anywhere shaded still has 2-3" here. Anywhere fully sun exposed is bare. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chinook Posted December 15, 2011 Author Share Posted December 15, 2011 We have at least 1" in the sunny places and more in the shaded places, up to 5". Not much to talk about. Denver is apparently now -9.4 for the month, so it's pretty obvious we'll finish out at 3 or more degrees below normal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chinook Posted December 16, 2011 Author Share Posted December 16, 2011 I am seeing a possible Rockies storm in the 7-day range (Dec 23.) The past couple of times a strong trough in the Southwest showed up in the 7-day range, it ended up not being a storm for us. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chinook Posted December 19, 2011 Author Share Posted December 19, 2011 Blizzard warning for southeast Colorado, for 5-10". Actually the GFS gives over 18" for the SE corner of Colorado. Chance for a northern Front Range storm of more than 4" on December 22-23. I'm not too sure if this will be over 4" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tacoman25 Posted December 19, 2011 Share Posted December 19, 2011 Went from a high of 58 yesterday afternoon to temps in the mid 20s today. Light/moderate snow falling with about 1/2" new accumulation so far. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nomad Posted December 20, 2011 Share Posted December 20, 2011 Looks like TWC is calling for a pretty decent snow Wednesday night into Thursday. Any insight from you guys is appreciated (I'm supposed to fly out Thursday to go see family on the east coast...) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SnowDeac Posted December 20, 2011 Share Posted December 20, 2011 Any thoughts on the Jan 2nd-7th time frame? I'm flying into Gunnison and skiing at Crested Butte with family. I'll be really depressed if they can't get some more snow before then/during our stay! Thanks in advance from down south. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tacoman25 Posted December 20, 2011 Share Posted December 20, 2011 Looks like TWC is calling for a pretty decent snow Wednesday night into Thursday. Any insight from you guys is appreciated (I'm supposed to fly out Thursday to go see family on the east coast...) The later your flight Thu the better, at this point. Looks like the heaviest snow will probably be about 6 am to 2 pm. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RIC Airport Posted December 20, 2011 Share Posted December 20, 2011 Went from a high of 58 yesterday afternoon to temps in the mid 20s today. Light/moderate snow falling with about 1/2" new accumulation so far. I actually had 4" from yesterday's storm which was a shock. But, I'll take it! Got down into the single digists this morning. This has been a great month....I've had snow on the ground practically every single day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mayjawintastawm Posted December 20, 2011 Share Posted December 20, 2011 Looks like TWC is calling for a pretty decent snow Wednesday night into Thursday. Any insight from you guys is appreciated (I'm supposed to fly out Thursday to go see family on the east coast...) Having flown out in a similar type event afew weeks ago,I'm thinking it will be harder to get to the airport than to get out once there. This sounds initially like a 3 incher for KDEN and more to the south (AGAIN!). I am always impressed with DIA's facility to handle snow with minimal delays... notwithstanding the delays on the front end with parking, security, etc! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boulderrr Posted December 21, 2011 Share Posted December 21, 2011 18Z GFS showing over a foot for much of the northern Front Range. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boulderrr Posted December 21, 2011 Share Posted December 21, 2011 Whoa... The 12Z NAM says we're going to get buried! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chinook Posted December 21, 2011 Author Share Posted December 21, 2011 Here is the GFS snowfall, for what it's worth. I think several areas will see 5", including Fort Collins, but obviously the GFS has more than 0.5" of water content for many areas. I guess you should keep an eye on the radar and get to the airport between 8 and 10PM. Sometimes the first inch or two is the most slippery. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boulderrr Posted December 21, 2011 Share Posted December 21, 2011 That bull's eye over SW Boulder County means I may have to take off work and ski Eldora tomorrow... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mayjawintastawm Posted December 21, 2011 Share Posted December 21, 2011 That bull's eye over SW Boulder County means I may have to take off work and ski Eldora tomorrow... Relatives arrive from Atlanta this evening early. We have tickets to Loveland, planning on Friday (to allow them to acclimatize a teensy bit). If that bullseye scoots just a tiny bit SW I will be very, very happy! Wxjunkie, why not leave Monument around dinnertime, have a late dinner, and do some last minute shopping at the airport (or even the Aurora mall)? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boulderrr Posted December 21, 2011 Share Posted December 21, 2011 Is the RUC known for overestimating, as far as precipitation goes? If not, By 9AM MST tomorrow: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nomad Posted December 22, 2011 Share Posted December 22, 2011 No reports yet? I've got about 2" as of 7:30. Came on strong, tapered off, absolutely dumped the last 30 minutes and now it seems to be tapering off again. Definitely the biggest flakes of the season (at least while I've been awake) here in SW Denver. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mayjawintastawm Posted December 22, 2011 Share Posted December 22, 2011 3" even as of 9 PM here... tapering temporarily... forget what I said about 3" total at KDEN. This is a different storm! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nomad Posted December 22, 2011 Share Posted December 22, 2011 Definitely hard to measure with all the drifts. I'd say I stepped in some 6" places and some over a foot deep, so I'll say we have 8" give or take an inch. It's definitely more snow than we've had here all season long. Looking at some estimated snow totals on weather.com, it looks like my area has been one of the bigger winners for places under 6k feet so far. About time with all those that hit the northern burbs harder earlier in the year Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RIC Airport Posted December 22, 2011 Share Posted December 22, 2011 I ended up with another 9 to 10" of new snow since yesterday. I got a couple pics I will try to post here in a bit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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