Klaus Wolter, a meteorologist affiliated with the University of Colorado and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration continues to promise a dry winter. In an article today in the Rocky Mountain News he says, “I think we should count our blessings. We got lucky” in regards to the amount of moisture the state has seen thus far.
According to Wolter, the La Nina weather pattern present in the Pacific will persist resulting in storms tracking north of our state. The good news though is that snowpack thus far is above normal statewide and even if their predictions bear out, we should be okay come summer. Here are the latest readings as of today:
S N O W - P R E C I P I T A T I O N U P D A T E Based on Mountain Data from NRCS SNOTEL Sites As of MONDAY: JANUARY 14 , 2008 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- STATE PERCENT OF AVERAGE RIVER BASIN Number Snow Water Accum of Sites Equivalent Precip -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
COLORADO GUNNISON RIVER BASIN ......................... 11 of 13 144 137 UPPER COLORADO RIVER BASIN ................... 27 of 29 119 124 SOUTH PLATTE RIVER BASIN ..................... 15 of 15 105 101 LARAMIE AND NORTH PLATTE RIVER BASINS ........ 13 of 13 101 109 YAMPA AND WHITE RIVER BASINS ................. 17 of 19 102 111 ARKANSAS RIVER BASIN ......................... 5 of 9 141 124 UPPER RIO GRANDE BASIN ....................... 9 of 13 158 144 SAN MIGUEL, DOLORES, ANIMAS AND SAN JUAN RIVER BASINS ................. 14 of 16 153 135
We of course hope the forecasters are wrong just like they have been about the last two hurricane seasons!
Recent snows along with high winds have raised the avalanche danger in the high country to “considerable” in many areas according to the 
As we finish what has been a relatively wet December, cold and dry are the key words to remember when it comes to January. The month is the coldest of the year and the second driest as well. What does history show us and what can we expect for January 2008? 
The 2007 hurricane season officially ended on November 30th and in the Atlantic, a total of 14 named storms were produced, including six hurricanes, two of which became major hurricanes. The good news is that only one hurricane, one tropical storm and three tropical depressions struck the United States so we escaped relatively unscathed. This does however make one wonder about the accuracy of hurricane forecasts. This is the second year in a row that predictions indicated above normal activity when the opposite turned out to be true. 
Round 2 of the snowstorms has come and gone and left Thornton with around 5″ of the white stuff. As a result, we have now moved into the #10 spot of the snowiest Decembers on record which works out well as it helps to make up for the dry season we have had prior to this. It will be cold today with some nasty windchills but we should start to see some melting tomorrow and into next week. 
It started snowing this morning around 4:00am and the storm appears to be intensifying. There is a 
As the kids wake up early this morning to see what Santa left them, we are seeing a bit of a nasty storm system move across the area. The National Weather Service has issued a Snow and Blowing Snow Advisory that will remain in effect until 5:00pm Christmas Day. Forecast models are a bit unclear as to how much snow we can expect – anywhere from one to five inches depending on which models we look at. The biggest problem will be the wind blowing things around and causing travel issues for those visiting folks on the holiday. Be sure to be safe and as always, stay tuned to ThorntonWeather.com for the latest.