Tag Archives: Video

Satellite imagery captures explosion of West Fork Complex Fire, Papoose Fire and thunderstorms

Satellites provide an amazing eye in the sky for monitoring the weather and climate.  Their usefulness today was once again proven as they captures wildfires exploding in Colorado’s southwest and thunderstorms to the northeast.

The satellite imagery animation comes from the NOAA GOES East satellite and was assembled by Colorado State University RAMSDIS.  It covers the period from 1:55pm to 4:40pm on Friday, June 21, 2013.

The tandem West Form Fire and Papoose Fire in southwestern Colorado are seen sending massive smoke plumes into the sky.  Afternoon thunderstorms are exploding in the northeastern corner of the state.

Time lapse video provides stunning view of rolling, bubbling clouds over the Rockies

One of our favorite pastimes is simply watching the clouds.  Colorado’s widely varying weather provides a stunning variety in almost every season.  One photographer captured an amazing time lapse video of what he called “Bubbly Rocky Mountain Clouds.”

Watch the video below.  Just beautiful!

Bubbly Rocky Mountain Clouds from David Harpe on Vimeo.

Time lapse video captures Thornton’s Tax Day snowstorm

2013-04-16_075452.jpg
April 15, 2013 - Snow far exceeding forecast amounts made for a wintry tax day in Thornton. (ThorntonWeather.com)

Mother Nature delivered a potent blast of wintry weather for Tax Day catching forecasters and residents off guard.  The mid-April snowstorm brought a hefty shot of snow and cold temperatures to Denver and northeastern Colorado.

Two days before the event models pointed to significant snowfall for Tax Day.  Soon however those same models shifted their target to the north and the metro area was only expected to receive light snow.

The heavy snow moved further south than anticipated however and by mid-afternoon on Monday, April 15 the storm was getting started in earnest.  Snowfall rates of up to 2 inches per hour were seen from then through midnight.

The video below captures 24 hours of the event from 6:00am on April 15 to 6:00am to April 16.  Only light snow is seen through about 2:00pm on the 15th before things really start to pick up.

Video: Denver’s late March snowstorm as seen from Thornton

The snow is falling, the wind is blowing and it is cold and nasty out there right now.  We took to the street for a little bit to capture some video of our late spring snowstorm.  Highlights include the flag flapping in the wind, blowing snow, shoveling and even an appearance by Scout, our Frisbee catching dog who doesn’t mind the snow one bit.

Update, 4:45pm: Below the first video taken this morning is a second video captured from our east facing webcam.  It is a time lapse showing the past 24 hours compressed into 48 seconds.

Thornton receives quick shot of snow Monday, more powerful storm possible for the weekend

2013-03-04_163914.jpg
Snow covers the streets with Thornton's March 4, 2013 snowstorm. Within a couple of hours the sun was out and the streets were clear. (ThorntonWeather.com)

March is historically the Denver area’s snowiest month and only four days into it Mother Nature delivered a nice, wet shot of the white stuff.  The storm moved through quickly Monday afternoon and now we focus on a potentially significant storm this coming weekend.

Today Thornton recorded 2.4 inches of snow and a very welcome 0.15” of liquid precipitation from it.  Similar totals, many a bit less, were seen in other locations of the Denver metro area.

This brings Thornton’s seasonal snow total to 28.9 inches.  That is still well below normal but given the progress made in recent weeks, we are hoping these storms continue to arrive.

As we discussed in this morning’s forecast, models are pointing toward a far more significant storm arriving as early as late Friday and lasting well into the weekend.

One model, the European ECMWF, has been relatively consistent with its projection of a powerful storm with a hefty shot of snow.  Other models have been less optimistic but on later runs today they are starting to come in line with the same thinking.

This system will bear close watching.  Click here for the latest forecast.

Below is a time lapse video of today’s snow showing 4 hours compressed to 8 seconds.

36 hours in 72 seconds: Time lapse video of Thornton’s February snowstorm

The recent snowstorm didn’t bring all that much snow to Thornton, 6.9 inches, but it was our biggest snowfall in over a year and delivers some much needed precipitation.  The light, fluffy snow was easily blown around by winds gusting in excess of 32 mph which limited visibility and made conditions outside harsh.

The video below captures the event from our east facing camera beginning at 6:00pm on Saturday, February 23, 2013 and continuing through 6:00am on Monday, February 25, 2013.  Light snow is seen falling soon after 10:00pm on Saturday night and following a lull, really picks up by mid-morning Sunday.

Storm may not have been impressive in reality but time lapse video looks cool

The recent storm was certainly far less than impressive in reality.  Thornton recorded a mere 3.6″ of snow and our seasonal snowfall totals continue to lag well below average.

However, when you take 24 hours of pictures taken at one minute intervals and combine them all into a single video you end up with a pretty neat 48 second time lapse.  Below are videos from each of our webcams covering the period from noon on Wednesday, February 20 to noon on Wednesday, February 21.

ThorntonWeather.com webcams capture time lapse video of snowstorm

March 24, 2010 - Early morning look as the snowstorm comes to an end.
March 24, 2010 - Early morning look as the snowstorm comes to an end.

Colorado was slammed with an early spring snowstorm on Tuesday, March 23, 2010 that left the Mile High City buried in a blanket of white. Widespread poweroutages were reported, the evening commute was a mess and residents worked to dig themselves out from the heavy, wet snow. 

Across the nation there are thousands of Personal Weather Stations (PWS) that are owned and operated by weather enthusiasts.  These stations provide valuable services to their communities and their data is oftentimes used by local news media and even the National Weather Service. 

You can find many of these stations on the Rocky Mountain Weather Network.

ThorntonWeather.com is proud to be one of these stations providing local weather to residents of the City of Thornton.  Our site has become extremely popular as we are the most comprehensive source for Thornton weather.

Our webcams followed the storm as it arrived in Thornton on Tuesday and below is a time lapse video from the east camera.  The day starts out relatively nice with temperatures in the 40’s but by late afternoon, the video shows conditions deteriorating rapidly.

Thornton begins digging out from early winter storm

This image from the ThorntonWeather.com webcam was captured at the height of the storm.
This image from the ThorntonWeather.com webcam was captured at the height of the storm.

A two-day storm that saw areas around Denver measuring snow in terms of feet has moved out of the area and onto the plains. The lingering effects of the storm will be felt Friday in terms of slick roads in Denver and blizzard conditions to the east.

The early winter storm, while not entirely unusual, was the first major snow storm of the season and put Coloradoans to the test. Mercifully, the snow never fell at a particularly heavy rate and while it lingered for a long time, it allowed road crews and residents time to stay on top of the snowfall. Most schoolchildren were pleased to have received at least one snow day from the storm and many were the recipients of two unplanned days off.

At Denver International Airport, initial success at holding the storm’s effects at bay on Wednesday began to whither under the white onslaught on Thursday as winds picked up and the storm shifted east. Hundreds of flights were canceled from the airport’s major carriers including United Airlines, Frontier Airlines and Southwest Airlines.

At the height of the storm’s effects, the airport was reduced to two operating runways from the usual six and delays of up to four hours were occurring. All airlines anticipate being able to operate a normal flight schedule today.

How much snow did the Denver area receive? Here are some of the snowfall totals:

Aurora: 16 inches
Boulder: 18.8 inches
Broomfield: 20 inches
Centennial: 17 inches
Coal Creek Canyon: 46 inches
Denver International Airport: 12 inches (as of 6:00am Thursday)
Evergreen: 30 inches
Highlands Ranch: 24.5 inches
Littleton: 28.5 inches
Longmont: 12.4 inches
Parker: 14.5 inches
Thornton: 14.1 inches
Click here for a complete listing of storm reports.

The storm did push Denver into the record books and the ‘top 10 snowiest Octobers’ list. The National Weather Service will publish the official snow total from DIA for yesterday but even without the snow from yesterday, October 2009 makes the list. As of 6:00am on Thursday, DIA had recorded 14.5 inches for the month (12 inches from this storm). That makes it number 7 on the top 10 list for snowiest Octobers on record since 1882. Once today’s measurement is released, it is possible it will climb further.

There's more to this story on the Denver Weather Examiner's site!For the rest of the storm recap, the latest photos and much more, please visit the story on the Denver Weather Examiner.