A major winter storm will hit Denver and the Front Range Thursday morning where some areas will be measuring snow in feet.
The National Weather Service has issued a Winter Storm Warning for Denver and much of northeastern Colorado in anticipation of a significant storm now approaching the state. The warning takes the place of the previously issued watch and signifies the increased potential for a major snow event. The warning goes into effect at 6:00am Thursday morning and runs through 6:00am Friday.
Computer models are beginning to coalesce around solutions that involve snow amounts that could exceed a foot along the Palmer Divide and the foothills. Snow will begin falling in the foothills in the morning and by midday will encompass the entire Front Range. By the time the storm ends, much of the metro area will have in excess of six inches of snow. Tomorrow afternoon’s commute is almost certainly going to be a rough one.
The spring snowstorm could be our biggest storm to date for the 2008 – 2009 winter season. We are desperately in need of moisture so while it may be troublesome, we really need the precipitation.
March 22 - March 28 - This week in Denver weather history.
This week in Denver weather history are a number of interesting events. As March comes to a close we are not yet done with winter so snow is certainly still possible but we also start seeing more Spring-like weather. Reminders of this include the coldest temperature ever recorded in March – 11 degrees below zero 123 years ago. Conversely, 38 years ago the highest temperature ever recorded in March of 84 degrees was recorded.
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In 1944…heavy snow fell over metro Denver for a total of 36 hours. The storm dumped 18.5 inches of snowfall over downtown Denver and 12.2 inches at Stapleton Airport. Fortunately…there were no strong winds with the storm. North winds to only 19 mph were recorded on the 21st.
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In 1955…wind gusts to 98 mph were recorded at rocky flats south of Boulder. Some damage and a few minor injuries were reported in Boulder. Northwest winds were sustained to 28 mph with gusts to 39 mph at Stapleton Airport on the 22nd.
In 1966…a vigorous cold front produced only 1.7 inches of snowfall at Stapleton International Airport…but northeast winds gusted to 49 mph on the 21st. Temperatures cooled from a maximum of 66 degrees on the 21st to a minimum of 14 degrees on the 22nd. Strong winds occurred on both days.
In 1992…an arctic cold front produced upslope snow across metro Denver mainly west of I-25. Castle Rock reported 6 inches of snow with 3 inches at Evergreen. At Stapleton International Airport…only 1.5 inches of snowfall were measured and northeast winds gusted to 18 mph on the 21st.
Florida researches believe a strong La Nina event is responsible for reduced global hurricane activity.
Researchers at Florida State University announced that global hurricane activity continues to decrease and is now at levels not seen since 1977. The researchers say that, “Tropical cyclone (TC) activity worldwide has completely and utterly collapsed during the past 2 to 3 years.”
Using a measurement called the Accumulated Cyclone Energy index (ACE), researchers see a tremendous drop in cyclone energy for the globe as a whole. While the north Atlantic saw above normal levels of ACE in 2008, it represents a relatively small amount of the global hurricane energy and as such cannot compensate for the much reduced levels elsewhere on Earth.
Just as there are active periods of hurricane activity around the globe, there are inactive periods, and we are currently experiencing one of the most impressive inactive periods, now for almost 3 years.
– Florida State University researchers
You can find complete coverage of this story as well as an incredible slideshow of hurricanes as seen from space on our Examiner.com weather news page. Click here to go there.
Schmitt recalled as a child in Silver City, New Mexico helping his father, also a geologist, take rain measurements. Those early experiments spurred the former astronaut’s interest in earth sciences at an early age. He recalled how later in life, while on the surface of the moon, he made weather forecasts for the southern hemisphere of the earth.
In wide ranging commentary, Dr. Schmitt made a point by point argument against many of the things that global warming advocates point to in support of the theory. In a similar vein to his comments last month, he continued to admonish scientists and politicians that have politicized the issue and said those that disagree do have a battle ahead of them.
We have oftentimes heard headache sufferers, particularly those that get migraines, attribute their pain to the weather. These had sometimes been dismissed as an old wives tale but a new study shows that there is a great deal of truth to this.
The Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) in Boston has recently completed the first large-scale study showing how environmental conditions like weather and air pollution can influence headache pain. Over 7,000 patients were studied in order to see if there is a link.
Kenneth Mukamal, MD, MPH, one of the authors of the study and a physician at BIDMC explains that, “Air temperature, humidity and barometric pressure are among the most frequent reasons that people give for their headache pain. But none of these reasons have been consistently verified. We wanted to find out if we could verify this ‘clinical folklore’.”
Mukamal and his coauthors compared levels of pollutants and meterological variables at the time of the patient’s hospital visit with corresponding levels on preceding days and subsequent weeks. Using meteorlogical and pollutant monitors they compared measurements of factors such as air temperature, barometric pressure, humidity, and dioxides from the three days prior to a patients’ visit to see if there was a correlation between these items and the patients’ headaches.
The results of the study seem to prove that this old wives tale is true. Of the factors considered, higher air temperature in the 24 hours just prior to a patient’s visit to the hospital was most associated with the headache symptoms. There was a 7.5 percent higher risk of severe headaches for each increase of nine degrees in temperature. Although not as profound, lower barometric pressure in the 48 to 72 hour period before a hospital visit also was seen to trigger headaches.
Dr. Mukamal says, “Certainly our results are consistent with the idea that severe headaches can be triggered by external factors. These findings help tell us that the environment around us does affect our health and, in terms of headaches, may be impacting many, many people on a daily basis.”
The next time you have a headache, if it was a good bit warmer the day before or the barometric pressure was lower a couple days before, you may have found the cause of your headache!
Sunny skies on Wednesday, March 4th helped Denver break a 137 year old high temperature record.
Denver officially broke the high temperature record on Wednesday, March 4th. At 12:40pm the temperature at Denver International Airport reached 76 degrees, breaking the old record of 74 degrees set in 1872.
This marks the 4th weather record we have broken in just the week. In addition to Wednesday’s mark, we have had:
March 3rd sets new record high minimum. Overnight temperatures got down to only 47 degrees, beating the old record of 44 set in 1925.
We are very dry right now and could really use some significant precipitation as snowfall totals are less than half of what they normally are by this time of year. Is there hope? We remember back to 2003 when we were in a similar dry condition and two major storms helped to turn things around. Click here to read about that on Examiner.com.
The old Stapleton International Airport site and Denver International Airport are separated by 12 miles. Is it accurate to compare weather between the two locations?
These announcements are common and we all take notice when we hear them and they make for great water cooler chat topics but are these claims accurate?
In 1995 Denver finally opened its new airport, Denver International Airport, out on the plains east of the city. This new facility, 12 miles as the crow flies northeast of the old Stapleton International Airport, moved the airport from an urban environment to a rural one and more than 19 miles from the center of Denver. Following that move, the National Weather Service (NWS) began taking some of its official measurements at the glistening new airport. In doing so, some say Denver’s climate records have forever been altered and as such any weather record should have an asterisk attached to it.
Denver officially set a new record high temperature for March 2nd.
Updated, 5:30pm: Denver’s official high temperature today reached 74 degrees at 3:08pm, beating the old record of 72 degrees by two.
Original post, 2:39pm: Denver has officially broken the high temperature record for today, March 2nd. At 1:52pm the thermometer at Denver International Airport reached 73 degrees, besting the old record of 72 degrees set way back in 1901. Here in Thornton we were a touch warmer reaching a high of 74.1 degrees.
This afternoon there is a chance the temperature could go a degree or two higher thus further increasing the record.
Is this really a record? Since moving Denver’s official weather recording station to DIA, many weather enthusiasts believe our weather and climate records are being unduly altered. Examiner.com just launched an investigative feature into this problem today – check out part 1 of our series on Examiner.com: Do Denver weather and climate records have an asterisk attached?
March 1 to March 7 - This week in Denver weather history
Looking at this week in Denver weather history, it is easy to see why March is known as Denver’s snowiest month. There are numerous instances of major winter storms dumping snow on the city that was measured not in inches – but feet!
From the National Weather Service:
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IN 1875…6 INCHES OF SNOW FELL FROM 3:15 PM ON THE 28TH TO 1:00 AM ON THE 1ST. PRECIPITATION FOR THE TWO DAYS WAS 0.50 INCH.
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IN 1896…SNOWFALL TOTALED 5.5 INCHES IN THE CITY. NORTHEAST WINDS GUSTED TO 24 MPH.
IN 1948…SNOWFALL TOTALED 5.9 INCHES IN DOWNTOWN DENVER. NORTH WINDS WERE SUSTAINED TO 15 MPH.
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IN 1904…WEST WINDS WERE SUSTAINED TO 42 MPH WITH GUSTS AS HIGH AS 58 MPH. THE CHINOOK WINDS WARMED THE TEMPERATURE TO A HIGH OF 67 DEGREES.
IN 1906…SNOWFALL WAS HEAVY AND TOTALED 7.5 INCHES OVER DOWNTOWN DENVER. NORTHEAST WINDS WERE SUSTAINED TO 37 MPH.
IN 1940…SNOWFALL WAS HEAVY AND TOTALED 7.7 INCHES IN DOWNTOWN DENVER.
IN 1943…6.0 INCHES OF SNOW FELL OVER DOWNTOWN DENVER. NORTH WINDS WERE SUSTAINED TO 19 MPH.
Want to be an official storm spotter or maybe just want to learn more about severe weather? Here’s your chance!
We have written before about the great opportunity the National Weather Service provides by giving storm spotter training during the start of the severe weather season. That time is now here and training sessions start in the coming week and new sessions have been added since we last reported on the topic.
The storm spotter program is a nationwide program with more than 280,000 trained spotters. These volunteers report weather hazards to their local National Weather Service office providing vital information when severe strikes. Data from spotters include severe wind, rain, snow measurements, thunderstorms and hail and of course tornadoes.
Storm spotters are part of the ranks of citizens who form the Nation’s first line of defense against severe weather. There can be no finer reward than to know that their efforts have given communities the precious gift of time–seconds and minutes that can help save lives.
By completing one of these training classes you can become an official storm spotter. When severe weather strikes, you can report it by calling a special toll free number or submit your report via the National Weather Service’s website.
These are great sessions for anyone wanting to learn more about the severe weather we experience in Colorado, whether you want to be an official spotter or not. All training is free. Topics include:
