December weather preview - what can we expect in Denver?
December brings with it the official start to winter and at the same time we find ourselves hoping we get moisture in the near future. As of this writing, the mountain snowpack in all basins are well below normal, with some as low as 27% of normal. Here in town our our annual snowfall is well below normal as well. In Colorado the snow season starts on July 1st and between that date and November 30th, Denver averages 16.9 inches of snow. Thus far, ThorntonWeather.com has measured a meager 0.2 inch and the official total for Denver taken at the site of the old Stapleton International Aiport stands at 0.8 inch!
For those that may not have noticed it in the most recent issue of Inside Thornton, the city has launched a new service called Thornton Connected. This new website and system allows area residents access to all sorts of new information from the city. First is a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) section of the website that covers the entire breadth of city services. That same information is also available by phone. Second is an email subscription service that allows area residents to receive periodic emails from the city on a range of topics from just about every city department.
We have subscribed to many of the email newsletters and have them to be very informative. The city is also doing a great job of ensuring the number of messages isn’t overwhelming and is only sending out the important stuff. We commend the City of Thornton on this new service for residents!
At the current time the system is only for non-emergency messages. We do wish and hope the city will consider expanding the system to include emergency messages such as tornado warnings, Amber Alerts and other emergency alerts. The city does not have an emergency siren system or any other way to disseminate emergency information to residents and we believe this would be a valuable and potentially life saving service. A number of municipalities across the country and in Colorado have implemented such systems. We are going to talk to the city about this and will update you when we learn more about their plans.
Please view the Winter Weather Preparedness series to ensure you are ready for the winter!
We recently published a series of articles from the National Weather Service as part of Colorado’s Winter Weather Preparedness Week. We have now made those stories easier to find by adding them to the Weather Education menu on the left of every page.
This series of articles is a ‘must read’ for anyone living or traveling in Colorado or any place else that receives severe winter weather. Covering a wide range of related topics, these articles help ensure you are ready for the coming winter. The articles cover the following topics:
This week in Denver weather history - November 1 to November 8
Lots of snow and lots of wind are the common theme when looking back at this week in Denver weather history. Certainly fall always brings the wind and November is our second snowiest month and the history books definitely seem to back that up.
1-2 IN 1892…SNOWFALL TOTALED 5.0 INCHES IN DOWNTOWN DENVER.
THIS WAS THE ONLY SNOW OF THE MONTH.
IN 1956…HEAVY SNOWFALL TOTALED 7.0 INCHES AT STAPLETON
AIRPORT. THE STORM WAS ACCOMPANIED BY MUCH BLOWING AND
DRIFTING SNOW. NORTH WINDS GUSTED TO 47 MPH.
IN 1991…THE STORM SYSTEM WHICH HIT THE FRONT RANGE AT THE
END OF OCTOBER FINISHED THE JOB DURING THE START OF
NOVEMBER. SIX INCHES OF NEW SNOW WERE RECORDED AT BOTH
ROLLINSVILLE AND MORRISON…WHILE 2.9 INCHES OF SNOW
FELL AT STAPLETON INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT WHERE NORTHEAST
WINDS GUSTED TO 17 MPH. THE TEMPERATURE CLIMBED TO A
HIGH OF ONLY 19 DEGREES ON THE 2ND…SETTING A RECORD
LOW MAXIMUM FOR THE DATE. Continue reading This week in Denver weather history – November 1 to November 8→
The three stars from Storm Chasers: Sean Casey - TIV Chief and Champion Storm Chaser, Dr. Josh Wurman - Research Meteorologist, and Reed Timmer - TVN Lead Storm Chaser, Meteorologist
For those that haven’t seen the show, it is must see TV, even if you aren’t much into weather. The show chronicles a team of storm chasers as they crisscross the Great Plains hunting tornadoes. They have an array of high tech gagetry at hand to help them in their chase to further our understanding of the storms including the TIV – Tornado Intercept Vehicle. The TIV’s primary function? To drive into a tornado!
The third episode’s summary says:
Storm Chasers
Mutiny on the Plains
Sunday, Nov 02 at 10:00 pm E/P on Discovery Channel
Tensions mount between Sean and Josh, as Reed offers to chase with the TIV. Reed chases a risky nighttime tornado into the hills of Arkansas, while Sean and Josh return to Greensburg, Kansas one year after a twister nearly wiped the town off the map.
Without further ado, ThorntonWeather.com’s sneak peak of the episode. In this scene small pieces of debris fall from the sky after meteorologists Danny and Aaron track down a funnel cloud in Rock Valley, Iowa.
Snow on Halloween? Popular belief is that we seem to have a lot of snow when the trick or treaters are out on the street.
Conventional wisdom in the Denver area is that it always seems to rain or snow on Halloween. I know as a kid it seemed like Mother Nature always put a damper on our trick or treating.
But, is there any truth to this urban legend? Or is this just one of those times where our memory doesn’t serve us quite right?
This year it certainly looks like we have nothing to worry about but the National Weather Service has been kind enough to compile weather statistics just for Halloween. As it turns out, the thought of snow and rain on Octboer 31st isn’t just in our minds!
A Preview of Denver's November Weather - Will it be a Fall Month or a Winter Month?
A preview of Denver’s November weather – Will it be a fall month or a winter month? Typically November is a quiet weather month with plenty of nice, fall days but it can also turn wet with plenty of snow and moisture. Just like Forest Gump’s proverbial box of chocolates, you never quite know what you are going to get.
Looking into the weather history books, we see that November is actually Denver’s second snowiest month, second only to March (April is third). Historically we average 10.7 inches of snow during the month.
ThorntonWeather.com junior stormchaser Bobby pursued a tornado in Weld County yesterday and provided live reports for 7News. Watch the video below (you may need to turn up the sound due to a lot of background noise).
The DOW - Doppler On Wheels - as seen on Storm Chasers.
🙂 Okay, so maybe not but it still is kind of fun. This was taken yesterday at NCAR’s Super Science Saturday in Boulder. Channel 7 was there with their “24 / 7 Weather Experience” which was a lot of fun as it gives folks a small taste of what goes into a weather broadcast. Unfortunately Mike Nelson, author of our favorite weather book, wasn’t there when we were but this was probably the highlight of the day up at NCAR for the kids.
There was also a bit of a celebrity there too as Justin Walker from Discovery Channel’s Storm Chasers TV show was there with their Doppler On Wheels (DOW) truck – a mobile radar vehicle. Justin serves as one of the team members from the Center for Severe Weather Research that chases the storms. He in particular is tasked with placing scientific probes in the path of the tornadoes. We got to spend a good bit of time chatting with Justin about their chases this past tornado season and in particular the ones in the north central Kansas area where a good bit of my family lives. He had some fascinating anecdotes to share about the storms, in particular the one that struck near Glen Elder, KS.
Bobby with Justin Walker of Storm Chasers.
For those that didn’t make it up there, you really missed a great opportunity for kids to learn more about not only the weather but also things like energy, the environment and more.
This week in Denver weather history - October 26 to November 1.
Lots of interesting stuff in this look back at Denver weather history for the week of October 26th to November 1st. Lots of snow including some major storms and the seemingly ever present wind are on this look into history.
PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DENVER CO
645 PM MDT SAT OCT 25 2008
…THIS WEEK IN METRO DENVER WEATHER HISTORY…
25-26 IN 1996…4 TO 6 INCHES OF SNOW FELL IN THE FOOTHILLS WEST OF
DENVER. ONLY 1.5 INCHES OF SNOWFALL WERE MEASURED AT THE
SITE OF THE FORMER STAPLETON INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT ON THE
26TH. THIS WAS THE ONLY MEASURABLE SNOW OF THE MONTH AT
THE SITE. THE SNOWFALL PRODUCED ICY AND SNOWPACKED
HIGHWAYS…WHICH RESULTED IN A 50-TO 60-CAR PILEUP ON I-25
SOUTH OF METRO DENVER. WEST WINDS GUSTED TO 33 MPH AT
DENVER INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT.
IN 2006…A WINTER STORM BROUGHT HEAVY SNOWFALL TO METRO
DENVER AND THE EASTERN FOOTHILLS. TOTAL SNOWFALL RANGED
FROM 12 TO 22 INCHES OVER THE HIGHER TERRAIN AND 6 TO 12
INCHES ACROSS METRO DENVER. NORTHERLY WINDS AT SUSTAINED
SPEEDS OF 20 TO 30 MPH WITH GUSTS AS HIGH AS 47 MPH AT
DENVER INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT WHIPPED THE SNOW INTO DRIFTS
3 TO 4 FEET DEEP. MANY TREE LIMBS SNAPPED UNDER THE WEIGHT
OF THE HEAVY…WET SNOW WHICH ALSO DOWNED POWER LINES…
LEAVING THOUSANDS OF RESIDENTS WITHOUT POWER. STORM TOTAL
SNOWFALL INCLUDED: 25 INCHES NEAR ASPEN SPRINGS…CONIFER…
AND EVERGREEN; 23.5 INCHES NEAR ROLLINSVILLE; 23 INCHES IN
IDAHO SPRINGS; 22.5 INCHES NEAR BLACKHAWK; 21.5 INCHES NEAR
BAILEY; 19 INCHES NEAR BERGEN PARK; 18 INCHES NEAR ASPEN
SPRINGS…GENESEE…AND JAMESTOWN; 17 INCHES SOUTHWEST OF
BOULDER; 16 INCHES IN EVERGREEN; AND 15 INCHES NEAR
GEORGETOWN AND PERRY PARK. SNOWFALL TOTALED 5.3 INCHES
IN THE DENVER STAPLETON AREA. AT DENVER INTERNATIONAL
AIPORT…RAIN…INCLUDING A THUNDERSTORM…CHANGED TO SNOW
ON THE EVENING OF THE 25TH AFTER A HIGH TEMPERATURE OF
70 DEGREES. Continue reading This week in Denver weather history – October 26 to November 1→
As we have talked about this week, winter weather can be dangerous and downright deadly. However, being prepared helps to ensure that you and your family remain safe when the snow starts to fly or other winter weather conditions occur. It is very easy to ignore the dangers of weather – no matter the season – and find yourself saying, “I wish I would have….” Now is the time to think about how you can prepare for these conditions, before it is too late and you find yourself wishing you had.
In this sixth and final message in a series on Winter Weather Preparedness from the National Weather Service, ThorntonWeather.com reviews the topics we covered this week and directs you to the previous articles and other resources to help you get ready.
An example of severe winter weather occurred in March 2003 across the eastern foothills, adjacent plains, and mountains. Snowfall amounts ranged from 80 to 110 inches, along with strong winds in some areas. The Denver metro area averaged nearly three feet of snow. The storm was well forecast, and people, for the most part, heeded the warnings, so casualties and impacts were mitigated.
