Mountain West Discussion

[Doom Buster]

19 hours ago, Tyler Mode said:

Looks like at least a little rain on the fires?

Yeah, a little disappointing with the amounts but the cool, moist weather has really helped past couple days.

[Doom Buster]

The deadliest tornado in Colorado history happened in August, 1924: https://www.weather.gov/bou/Thurman_Tornado_1924

[snow_wizard]

1 hour ago, Front Ranger said:

The deadliest tornado in Colorado history happened in August, 1924: https://www.weather.gov/bou/Thurman_Tornado_1924

Sad that so many of the victims were children.

[Deweydog]

18z looks so lid.

[Doom Buster]

August finished very warm at DEN: +2.7. I expected to roast this summer, and that was certainly the case overall, despite a near normal July. Since I've lived here, the only summers warmer than 2024 have been 2021, 2020, and 2012.

On the bright side, this summer didn't feature a truly scorching July or August, and there were frequent breaks in the heat. Months like July 2022, July 2021, August 2020, and July 2017 were easily hotter than any month this summer, so all in all it was bearable.

[Doom Buster]

Had a real nice rain event last night. Rained pretty steadily for about 6 hours and picked up almost half an inch.

[Doom Buster]

Endless ridging so far this "fall". No precip since 9/22, and October is running a ridiculous +9 so far. Awful.

Can only hope payback comes this cold season...

[AquariusRadar]

Classic four corners low is making for some Colorado rain and high country snow. The cyclone is moving out now in the familiar west to east path across the plains states. Nebraska, Iowa, and Great Lakes states can get a soaker.

[T-Town]

Daughter in Fort Collins says it’s snowing. 

[Doom Buster]

13 hours ago, T-Town said:

Daughter in Fort Collins says it’s snowing. 

Didn't see any flakes here. But the foothills and mountains apparently did well.

[Doom Buster]

This would be cool.

[Tenochtitlan]

21 hours ago, Front Ranger said:

This would be cool.

That would be impressive for Albuquerque. 6”-snowstorms aren’t too common there, especially this early in the winter.

[Doom Buster]

I know they say models have gotten so much better...but they are showing anywhere from 2-11" for me tonight. 

[Timmy]

On 11/3/2024 at 1:32 PM, Tenochtitlan said:

That would be impressive for Albuquerque. 6”-snowstorms aren’t too common there, especially this early in the winter.

Winter is a month and a half away too.

[Tenochtitlan]

40 minutes ago, Timmy said:

Winter is a month and a half away too.

Looks iffy in terms of snow for Albuquerque itself, but any precipitation is good there. Seems like the Sandia Mountains will get some good snowfall though.

[Anti Marine Layer]

4 hours ago, Timmy said:

Winter is a month and a half away too.

Solar winter is starting. It's the 3 months of the year where sun angles are the lowest. 

[Doom Buster]

The NAM might be drunk.

[StormchaserChuck1]

Kind of a big time Winter storm hitting New Mexico right now.  Albuquerque, NM (weather.gov)

Las Vegas, NM is predicted to get 44"..

[Doom Buster]

Ended up getting about 3" last night/this morning. Part of southern/western Denver metro have seen 6-10".

And it looks like another 6-12" could be on the way over the next couple days for much of the area.

High of just 30 at DEN today.

[Meatyorologist]

32F in Albuquerque with this radar loop. Pretty zany

[Meatyorologist]

That's a great discussion from the NWS office down there. My favorite part:

It brings back memories from the 1970s, 1980s, early 1990s and
2006 when a 4 footer snow storm was commonplace at Pajarito and
along the east slopes of the Sangre de Cristo mountains. In fact,
Sandia Ski Area reported 57" in January 1987 from a 3 day storm very
similar to this one. Snow packed and icy roads remained for two
weeks on side streets in ABQ in January 1987. Best way to describe
this system is using those historical statistics. A closed low
dropping farther south, than even the latest and greatest numerical
weather prediction models are able to forecast, near the NM bootheel
bring about our most impactful and hazardous snow storms. Thank La
Nina and an MJO that came back to life thanks to La Nina, currently
toward the first stages of phase 8. This is the perfect recipe for
heavy snow over much of NM.

[StormchaserChuck1]

Blizzard warnings now up for NE New Mexico

[StormchaserChuck1]

[Doom Buster]

19 hours ago, StormchaserChuck1 said:

Blizzard warnings now up for NE New Mexico

On 11/7/2024 at 2:24 AM, Meatyorologist said:

32F in Albuquerque with this radar loop. Pretty zany

 

20 hours ago, StormchaserChuck1 said:

Blizzard warnings now up for NE New Mexico

Looks like Albuquerque itself actually got screwed. Airport only measured .4". 

Here's some official totals.

Clayton, NM: 12.1"

Eagle Nest, NM: 19.8"

Santa Fe: 9.2"

Wolf Canyon, NM: 33" (over 4 days)

 

[Dan the Weatherman]

On 11/7/2024 at 1:38 AM, Meatyorologist said:

That's a great discussion from the NWS office down there. My favorite part:

It brings back memories from the 1970s, 1980s, early 1990s and
2006 when a 4 footer snow storm was commonplace at Pajarito and
along the east slopes of the Sangre de Cristo mountains. In fact,
Sandia Ski Area reported 57" in January 1987 from a 3 day storm very
similar to this one. Snow packed and icy roads remained for two
weeks on side streets in ABQ in January 1987. Best way to describe
this system is using those historical statistics. A closed low
dropping farther south, than even the latest and greatest numerical
weather prediction models are able to forecast, near the NM bootheel
bring about our most impactful and hazardous snow storms. Thank La
Nina and an MJO that came back to life thanks to La Nina, currently
toward the first stages of phase 8. This is the perfect recipe for
heavy snow over much of NM.

I don't think we are really in La Nina just yet, as I believe it is still ENSO neutral (La Nada).

[Doom Buster]

Very snowy election week across the southern Rockies. Here are the totals from the prolonged snowfall.

DEN: 18.2"

Colorado Springs: 19.3"

Pueblo: 11.1"

Walsenburg, CO (near NM border): 20.9"

Clayton, NM: 22.9"

Eagle Nest, NM: 28"

Santa Fe: 13.4"

Wolf Canyon, NM: 37" (way up in the mountains, they average 120"/year)

[Tyler Mode]

Great snow cover left from the storm.

[Doom Buster]

DEN finished November with 23.3" of snow. Snowiest November in 33 years, and third snowiest on record.

[AquariusRadar]

The snowpack for the largest part of the Colorado basin is near normal. The southern part, however, is below normal. With all the Pacific storms moving across the mountain west, i would think the snowpack would be deeper. Wonder if Denver area is the exception? I think the Rockies are wringing almost all the water out of these storms leaving the downwind states dry. Either that or the atmospheric rivers are just not that wet. The corn and wheat states Kansas, Nebraska, and Dakotas   rain seems kind of skimpy of late? Big storms are beating up the West coast, but inland we are too dry. What's going on?

[Doom Buster]

After a blowtorch December that featured only 3 highs below 40 and none below freezing, DEN is running 6 degrees below normal through the first week of January. Three sub-30 highs so far.

[Doom Buster]

Almost halfway through the month, and still running almost 6 degrees below normal, despite no extreme cold.

Brief warm up the next couple days, then temps crash with the arctic blast...probably will be the coldest first 2/3 of January in quite awhile.

[Doom Buster]

DEN finished January with an average temp of 25.8, about 6 degrees below average. Coldest January since 2007 and third colder than average in a row.

[Doom Buster]

Very cold past couple days. 15/5 and 10/-4 at DEN. February is now running right about normal despite a blowtorch the first week of the month.

[Anti Marine Layer]

Looks like it has been a boring two months.

[Doom Buster]

April ended up +1.7 at DEN, and very dry with only .50" precip and 2" of snow. Normal precip is 1.68".