Mountain West Discussion

[wx_statman]

July 2017 ended up being just the 2nd month on record at Kalispell, MT to not have a maximum below 80 degrees. The other was July 2007, which holds the benchmark with no maximums below 83.

[Kayla]

July 2017 ended up being just the 2nd month on record at Kalispell, MT to not have a maximum below 80 degrees. The other was July 2007, which holds the benchmark with no maximums below 83.

 

Shows once again the anomaly of July 2007 because this past July was a doozy! Bozeman still ended up over 2º shy of the July 2007 mean yet was a clear second in 125 years of records keeping.

 

July 2017 was the second warmest month in Bozeman on record with an average mean of 72.4º. Bozeman recorded 14 days at or above 90 during the month which is also the seasonal total so far. To give some perspective, Bozeman's seasonal average total is just 8 days at or above 90. The hottest temps recorded in the month was just 95º so consistency was the key this past month.

[Front Ranger]

Socked in with low clouds/drizzle here in Boulder, temp at 61. Good chance we don't break 70 today.

 

Common theme to have unusually cool weather here in the summer while the PNW experiences a heatwave.

[Front Ranger]

Not very often it's 59 degrees at 2:30 pm in early August.

 

[Front Ranger]

Topped out at 64 at my house yesterday, 67 at DEN (-14 departure for the day). Coolest day since 6/23. Looks like consistent highs in the 70s starting on Sunday. 

[Scott]

Recent snowstorm in Colorado:

 

http://www.9news.com/weather/weather-colorado/its-august-and-there-was-snow-on-monarch-pass/462042816

 

http://www.9news.com/img/resize/content.9news.com/photo/2017/08/04/IMG_20170803_175845450_HDR%20_OP_1_CP__1501884521561_10198098_ver1.0.jpg?preset=534-401

[Front Ranger]

At .81" so far this month, DEN already has had more rain than June/July combined.

[Black Hole]

Next few days look cooler (80s) with scattered thunderstorms possible. I still have yet to have a strong thunderstorm actually hit me this summer so hopefully we can manage something. 

[Front Ranger]

Drizzle all day and a temp of just 57 here at 3pm, with heavier stuff about to move in. This is the most autumn-like summer day I can remember here since the crazy two day storm in mid August 2008. That one dumped 2-3" throughout the metro area, with highs in the 50s, and the mountains above 9000' got a heavy snowfall. 

[Scott]

Poor lighting conditions and not the best photo, but here is a photo of a dusting of snow that fell in the mountains today:

 

http://images.summitpost.org/original/1004734.JPG

 

I took the photo from Vail Pass, looking east.

[Front Ranger]

Definitely been an early taste of fall as of late.

[Kayla]

Definitely been an early taste of fall as of late.

 

The shift from July has been well welcomed! BZN is running at -4 so far this month. Now if we can just get some rain around here. It's been almost two weeks now without any precip so things have gotten really dry.

[Black Hole]

Other than the 1/3 of an inch on July 26th, I haven't had any appreciable rain since June 13th. Most areas around me have done better but I've been very unlucky. One more shot tonight before we dry out again for a few days. At least the heat of summer is dying down, mid 80s to low 90s this week instead of 100s. 

[Front Ranger]

Have really enjoyed this month so far. Over 1" of rain in my backyard.

 

[Black Hole]

Most areas around SLC got some decent rains at some point the last few days, but nothing for me. At least its cooler. 

Looking ahead we will still be plenty warm, but I don't see any really hot weather. 

[Black Hole]

I got .03" from some thunderstorms last night. It wasn't much but we will take what we can get here. One more slight chance tomorrow before we dry out for a while. However, it is still looking much cooler for a few days so that is good to see. 

[Front Ranger]

We may be done with the hot weather for the year here. Looks like continued temps mainly in the 80s with a chance of t-storms each day this coming week.

 

I've seen rain on 9/12 days here so far this month. Only saw measurable rainfall on 8 days in June/July combined.

[Kayla]

Very fallish out there this morning! Finally getting a nice little soaking here with cool temps. Picked up 0.31" of rainfall and counting so far today.

 

Only 51º out there currently so it looks like we'll stay below 70 which would be the first time since late June.

[Black Hole]

Tomorrow may max out in the upper 70s here, which probably hasn't happened since early June sometime and is well below normal for August. It will feel nice!

[Kayla]

After the stratiform rain we had yesterday morning we had a nice break and some sun with highs topping out in the upper 60's. Then after sunset at around 9:30pm we had a train of storms move through with frequent lightning giving the best light show of the year by far. The storms also brought a ton moisture dropping 0.75"+ around the area.

 

I ended up with 1.22" of rainfall over the last 24 hours. Great way to break the ~30 day dry streak!

[Front Ranger]

Despite some warmer weather the past few days, DEN is still sitting at -3.4 for the month.

[Black Hole]

My house was at about 95% totality. The temperature dropped 6F and the wind switched to the nighttime drainage.

I also went up to Idaho to see it. The traffic coming back was brutal but it was a really fun event. 

[Kayla]

Still amazed of the flip from July to August up here. Bozeman airport has only seen one above average day (And that was only a +1 departure) all of this month while running a -3.6 departure up to this date. 

[Black Hole]

Still amazed of the flip from July to August up here. Bozeman airport has only seen one above average day (And that was only a +1 departure) all of this month while running a -3.6 departure up to this date. 

Meanwhile with the building heat this week we will solidify the warmest summer on record at KSLC, beating out 2013 (old number 1) and 2016 (old number 2). 

 

Still no appreciable rain at my place but areas to the south of SLC have done better.

[Black Hole]

Some places got some rain last night, but dry at my place. A chance of showers today but most likely nothing will happen with hot weather continuing for another week.

[Black Hole]

Finally starting to see some hints of change. We may see some cooler air sneak in over the divide on Tuesday, which will probably be a nice cool off for those of you in Montana and Colorado. 

Anyway, most ensembles are much cooler by the end of week 2. So, we may have to wait a while but I expect by then we will drop into the 80s and be done with this 95+ crap. 

[Kayla]

Finally starting to see some hints of change. We may see some cooler air sneak in over the divide on Tuesday, which will probably be a nice cool off for those of you in Montana and Colorado. 

 

Anyway, most ensembles are much cooler by the end of week 2. So, we may have to wait a while but I expect by then we will drop into the 80s and be done with this 95+ crap. 

 

Yeah around 90 this weekend up here then we cool off into the 70's on Monday as a trough drops down into the Midwest bringing us a cool NW flow. Probably will see several spots in the area get their first freeze Tuesday or Wednesday morning with very dry air in place.

 

Would love to see some more precip as we continue to run extremely dry. I did notice that the latest euro weeklies showed a lot of moisture arriving around or just after the 15th. Also shows our first significant snowfall during the 18th-25th period.

[Front Ranger]

Looks like a cool down to 70s for a couple days here, but nothing sustained yet. Summer is still humming along.

 

After a very cool first half of August, a warm second half pushed DEN up to -1.0 for the month.

[Kayla]

Front moved through here a couple hours ago and it feels glorious after seeing my fourth 90+ degree day yesterday. With the NW flow the smoke is also improving. Dew points have also risen which is great for fire concerns but it might make it tougher to drop down to our first freeze of the season tonight.

[Front Ranger]

Smokiest day of the year here. Can't wait for that front to get here.

[Kayla]

Had a high of 67º today which was the first 60's since June. Already down to 53 so definitely a shot at the low 30's tonight if we can decouple enough before sunrise.

[Black Hole]

96F at my place today with some haze. Looks like 3 more days of similar temperatures, and then a slow decline into the upper 80s. Still no good chance of rain anytime soon, but it looks more possible in the 7-10 day period. 

[Kayla]

Ended up with a low of 36 this morning. Couldn't quite decouple enough for the first freeze but chilly enough to feel that fall is just around the corner.

[Geos]

First snowfall for the northern Rockies?

 

[Kayla]

First snowfall for the northern Rockies?

 

 

Saw that this morning on the 06z! Surprisingly the ECMWF weeklies last week first showed something very similar in that 15th - 20th period. Models have gone away from it now so we'll probably have to wait a while longer but you never know. It's definitely getting close to that time of year again.

[Black Hole]

A fire broke out about 30 minutes north of me today and burned 6 homes. The gusty east winds were a big part of that from the high pressure to my NE.

[Front Ranger]

Enjoyed the temps in the 70s the past couple days, but now it's back to summer for at least the next week.  <_>

 

Can't wait for that first real fall front.

[Guest happ]

Bear Lake Utah [Carol Dyer]

[Kayla]

Looks like we'll see our first significant fall front here on Thursday of next week! It's actually looking pretty potent and may be enough to end the fire season with a good consensus of 1-1.5" of widespread precip. Friday into Saturday it's even possible we'll see our first snowfall of the year. At the very least, we should get a decent amount in the surrounding mountains.

 

Going to be quite the temperature shock going from mid 80's on Tuesday to highs in the low 40's on Friday.

[Black Hole]

Looks like we'll see our first significant fall front here on Thursday of next week! It's actually looking pretty potent and may be enough to end the fire season with a good consensus of 1-1.5" of widespread precip. Friday into Saturday it's even possible we'll see our first snowfall of the year. At the very least, we should get a decent amount in the surrounding mountains.

 

Going to be quite the temperature shock going from mid 80's on Tuesday to highs in the low 40's on Friday.

The same frontal system is coming in here too. Looks like some highs in the upper 60s with rain and high elevation snow. It will be quite refreshing!