PennMan Posted March 23, 2016 Share Posted March 23, 2016 It's been like this in Broomfield for a solid hour: Will easily hit 18" here I believe. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skierinvermont Posted March 23, 2016 Share Posted March 23, 2016 Wow I'm under 35dbz blowing sideways.. one of the most impressive bursts of winter weather I have ever seen I can barely make out the apartment building opposite me which is probably 70-80 yds away. Probably 3"/hr and the trees are caked from the transition. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chinook Posted March 23, 2016 Author Share Posted March 23, 2016 Cheyenne Mountain (Colorado Springs area) has wind gusts to hurricane force, snow squalls (I haven't seen SN SQ for a while). KCWN 232006Z AUTO 33037G67KT 10SM -SN SQ BKN026 00/M07 A2958 RMK AO2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chinook Posted March 23, 2016 Author Share Posted March 23, 2016 As per local storm reports Erie to Lafayette has gotten 18-24". That is pretty incredible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mayjawintastawm Posted March 23, 2016 Share Posted March 23, 2016 A nice round 20" at my house now, and it is FINALLY slowing down. Can't get out of the neighborhood but the driveway is 3/4 shoveled. Centennial Airport (KAPA) near my house has reported 9 straight hours of heavy snow. Don't think I've seen a streak like that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chinook Posted March 23, 2016 Author Share Posted March 23, 2016 I'll make a radar loop and a 500mb loop later. this is a big dog and a 500mb loop on my web site should be helpful for future reference. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PennMan Posted March 23, 2016 Share Posted March 23, 2016 As per local storm reports Erie to Lafayette has gotten 18-24". That is pretty incredible. 20" in western Broomfield County. There are some 4-5' drifts in the golf course to the west. I can see the Flatirons now as the cloud deck lifts. Very impressive event, I don't know that I've seen 20" of snow in 11 hours before. As disruptive as this event was, I am glad to see the significant precipitation over the whole area. Should give us a nice green spring. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vandy Posted March 23, 2016 Share Posted March 23, 2016 Fun pic from NWS Boulder: No escape. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chinook Posted March 24, 2016 Author Share Posted March 24, 2016 loops of yesterday's storm http://www.greatlakes.salsite.com/mar_22_23_2016_500mb_loop.html http://www.greatlakes.salsite.com/mar_22_23_2016_surface_loop.html http://www.greatlakes.salsite.com/mar_22_23_2016_radar_loop.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chinook Posted March 25, 2016 Author Share Posted March 25, 2016 The next round of snow will come in on Saturday. It is perfectly fine if this one misses my back yard. I think my area got 1.4 to 1.6" water equivalent from the rain and snow. i heard there are power outages in Denver today. A winter storm watch has been issued for south Denver metro Saturday. 4-8" (under 7000ft). valid for Palmer Divide. Also a winter storm watch for Colorado Springs, Pueblo, and Trinidad. This looks like a good storm for the all sections of the mountains. This NWS graphic says 10-20" for most sections of mountains. The southern mountains haven't gotten very much since early February (not sure?). The GFS has 0.5" to 1.0" of QPF for the mountains, so 5-20" should be possible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ValpoVike Posted March 25, 2016 Share Posted March 25, 2016 Snapped this photo while landing at DIA on Thursday. There are interesting snow shadows behind structures that nicely illustrate the wind speed and direction of Wednesday's storm. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ConiferMtnMan Posted March 26, 2016 Share Posted March 26, 2016 Snowing good up the hill. 2" at home in the last hour or so, but it looks like it's about to wind down for a long break. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chinook Posted March 26, 2016 Author Share Posted March 26, 2016 Cheyenne Airport broke a record for daily precip and daily snow ..THE CHEYENNE WYOMING AIRPORT CLIMATE SUMMARY FOR MARCH 23 2016 CLIMATE NORMAL PERIOD 1981 TO 2010 CLIMATE RECORD PERIOD 1871 TO 2016 WEATHER ITEM OBSERVED TIME RECORD YEAR NORMAL DEPARTURE LAST VALUE (LST) VALUE VALUE FROM YEAR NORMAL .............................................................. TEMPERATURE (F) YESTERDAY MAXIMUM 34 1224 AM 72 2012 49 -15 60 MINIMUM 22 945 PM -1 1898 26 -4 37 AVERAGE 28 38 -10 49 PRECIPITATION (IN) YESTERDAY 1.20R 0.67 1909 0.03 1.17 T MONTH TO DATE 1.74 0.73 1.01 0.07 SINCE JAN 1 2.94 1.53 1.41 0.83 SNOWFALL (IN) YESTERDAY 14.1 R 8.9 1996 0.4 13.7 0.0 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chinook Posted March 28, 2016 Author Share Posted March 28, 2016 I don't think Saturday's storm had quite that much snow for the central CO mountains, as was shown on that NWS gridded forecast I posted before. For the next couple of days, the interior West should get a bit of snow. The NAM now has 3 to 6.5ft for the Wind River central Wyoming range. Oh how painful this must be for Salt Lake City, barely a couple of inches from this major Great Basin storm. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
masomenos Posted March 28, 2016 Share Posted March 28, 2016 Really cool storm. Near record snows for some of the higher valleys throughout NV for this time of year? Not too familiar with their climo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ConiferMtnMan Posted March 28, 2016 Share Posted March 28, 2016 I don't think Saturday's storm had quite that much snow for the central CO mountains, as was shown on that NWS gridded forecast I posted before. For the next couple of days, the interior West should get a bit of snow. The NAM now has 3 to 6.5ft for the Wind River central Wyoming range. Oh how painful this must be for Salt Lake City, barely a couple of inches from this major Great Basin storm. The southern foothills actually did really well Saturday with 10-14" in my area. It was very localized however. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chinook Posted March 28, 2016 Author Share Posted March 28, 2016 Here is what I said on September 14, 2015. I was right. Based on history, I told everybody to watch out for a big storm this winter. If the big one is in March, it might be worse. My hunch was that March is the month when the most moisture seems to at the same time/place as some of the best winter dynamic systems. El Nino winters have produced some big high-impact storms. Once again, Denver was the focal point for some of the worst conditions last week. (Similar to '82... Fort Collins got missed in '82) This time, Denver got 18-24", while Fort Collins got 12". So that's not a miss for Fort Collins but it is less. Most areas around here got the big dog in 2003 and 2006, which were both El Ninos. I think most areas got at least 8" in Oct 1997. I think Denver was the focal point for that one. 72-hr snow total from 10/23 to 10/26, 1997. Looks like 18" affected a bunch of areas. Not sure which number is from Fort Collins http://www.eas.slu.edu/CIPS/ANALOG/IMAGES/COOP/72HR/1997/19971026_072_pttotal.png September 14, 2015 Some of the greatest Denver snowstorms have occurred with strong El Ninos. Blizzard of Christmas '82. Blizzard of October '97. Note '02-'03 was an El Nino, but it wasn't as strong as the other two super-El Ninos. In '02-'03, our area had an upper level ridge and very little snow for a long time. Then the Front Range cities got blitzed with 20-35" of snow on March 17 2003. If a big March storm affects us in 2016, watch out! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
masomenos Posted March 28, 2016 Share Posted March 28, 2016 I thought that cutoff low that was meandering down in Mexico for a while would eventually get into a favorable position to draw moisture from the GOM into the Front Range, but it never quite materialized. That's when you start seeing those absurd Cascade Mtn type snowfall amounts in the eastern Rockies. Very rare setup, but I always thought this super nino might be capable of such a thing. Came close, but no dice. Still a few weeks to make something happen, I suppose. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chinook Posted March 31, 2016 Author Share Posted March 31, 2016 My area got several snow showers yesterday, with some gusts over 25mph. About 0.11" - 0.12" water equivalent of snow fell, and the grass stayed green. I believe some of the local storm reports indicated 24" on Casper Mountain (near Casper WY) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lakeeffectkid383 Posted April 1, 2016 Share Posted April 1, 2016 My area got several snow showers yesterday, with some gusts over 25mph. About 0.11" - 0.12" water equivalent of snow fell, and the grass stayed green. I believe some of the local storm reports indicated 24" on Casper Mountain (near Casper WY)you know how much in Laramie? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chinook Posted April 2, 2016 Author Share Posted April 2, 2016 you know how much in Laramie? I believe 4-5" fell in Laramie based on CoCoRAHS and local storm reports (Tue-Wed). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chinook Posted April 2, 2016 Author Share Posted April 2, 2016 Mesmerizing radar loop shows how Denver got clobbered with snow last Wednesday https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/capital-weather-gang/wp/2016/03/25/mesmerizing-radar-loop-shows-denver-clobbered-by-snow-wednesday/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yotaman Posted April 2, 2016 Share Posted April 2, 2016 Got a question for those in Denver. When do you seem to get the worst hail storms. We hope to visit in August and renting a car for 2 weeks. Normally I don't get the extra insurance but when I see pictures of the hail storms y'all get. It kind of has me a bit worried. Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chinook Posted April 3, 2016 Author Share Posted April 3, 2016 Got a question for those in Denver. When do you seem to get the worst hail storms. We hope to visit in August and renting a car for 2 weeks. Normally I don't get the extra insurance but when I see pictures of the hail storms y'all get. It kind of has me a bit worried. Thanks. I would say late May to mid-July. There are generally fewer tornadoes and fewer large hail events in the Front Range cities after mid-July. The chance of heavy rain is highest around August 1st. Of course there's a very good chance of sunny weather on any given day. There's no way I can tell you the exact cost vs. benefit of the rental car insurance. If you go into the mountains, large hail is unlikely, but small hail and cold rain is more likely. (Thankfully, the hail won't dent your car if it is 1/4" wide). If you really want to, you can mess with SPC's online SeverePlot to find out about past hail events near your area of interest. http://www.spc.noaa.gov/climo/online/sp3/plot.php This contains a plot of annual average daily severe weather occurrences for the FTG radar radius http://www.spc.noaa.gov/climo/online/rda/FTG.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mayjawintastawm Posted April 3, 2016 Share Posted April 3, 2016 Yup, June is typically the worst from a large hail probability standpoint, though the worst hail in the South Metro area in the past 6 years was Sept 29, 2014, with widespread 2" hail. An anomaly to be sure. But thinking of the probability of hail big enough to hurt a car (~1") in any given 2 week period in August, I'd say about 2-3% on the Plains, mountains considerably less. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yotaman Posted April 3, 2016 Share Posted April 3, 2016 Thanks for the replies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mayjawintastawm Posted April 8, 2016 Share Posted April 8, 2016 As many know, most of the Front Range got a lot of precip with the 3/23 blizzard. The NWS at DIA measured only 0.90" melted, though 18.4" snow. Ratio was much closer to 10:1 elsewhere, with widespread 1.8 to 2" melted. So the officials say the precip for March is "under review". Anybody got a super slo-mo or reverse angle shot of DIA on that day? Does the ruling on the field stand if the snow never actually hit the ground before being measured? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chinook Posted April 8, 2016 Author Share Posted April 8, 2016 That is a very interesting point. I hope they will resolve it. Not to be annoying or anything, but the Denver official NWS office is in Boulder, and as you can see here, the climate/weather sites in Denver are spread over the city. The Denver NWS forecasters are in a large NOAA building close to the CU campus in Boulder. (This building also houses the ESRL-PSD and the Space Weather Prediction Center) The NWS operates the KFTG radar at KFTG airport. There is the TDEN radar, which is a few miles from KFTG, but not within the borders of DIA. KDEN weather observation (at DIA) is most likely operated by the FAA contract observer(s) there. The upper-air sounding location, called KDNR, is located at the old Stapleton Airport. Weather records were kept at Stapleton Airport until 1994. Before Stapleton was built, I believe weather records were kept downtown. There's kind of a long-term climate problem in all of this. Downtown, Stapleton, and DIA all have kept weather records in different years. The upslope snow/rain events (and sometimes summertime rain) have greater rain/snow near downtown, by several percent. So the climate at DIA is drier. It is also less windy and more moist (higher RH) in the urban area, compared to dusty DIA. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chinook Posted April 8, 2016 Author Share Posted April 8, 2016 On Tuesday, a cold front came through the area and dropped temps to the upper 40's/lower 50's in the middle of the day. Max winds on Tuesday: Fort Collins- foothills: 67.6mph Fort Collins- CSU campus: 39.2mph FNL airport: 36 kt (41mph) Greeley: 45kt (52mph) Cheyenne: 50kt (58mph) LMO airport: 39 kt (45mph) Boulder- NCAR Mesa- approx. 80mph Boulder- NCAR Foothills- approx 47mph Boulder BJC airport: 52 kt (60mph) DIA: 46kt (53mph) Laramie: 46kt (53mph) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chinook Posted April 9, 2016 Author Share Posted April 9, 2016 Looks like some rain will be coming into the area soon, with 0.4" to 0.8" expected for Denver to Colorado Springs Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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