Much to everyone’s surprise, what was forecast to be not much more than a dusting of snow turned into quite a bit more. In Thornton from about 6:00pm to 7:00pm we saw 1.5″ fall very quickly with near blizzard conditions for that brief period. Much of the Denver metro area saw more snow than that, primarily west of I-25 and south of I-70. Not far from us Broomfield reported 3.4″ and Federal Heights 3″.
Why did this storm offer more than predicted? Here is what 7News’ meterologists offer:
Computer models had shown little if any snow across Denver. However, instability in the atmosphere provided enough juice for a convective-type snowfall. Reports of thundersnow came from southwest Denver near Chatfield State Park as a result of the instability early Wednesday afternoon.
This type of snow is called CSI, Conditional Symmetric Instability. It is generated when enough instability exists in the atmosphere to give snow showers a thunderstorm-type development. With help from upslope flow, these snow events can dump a lot of snow in a short period of time. While these events don’t last more than a few hours in most cases, snowfall rates as high as 2 to 3 inches can amount to excessive accumulation.
For the foreseeable future we expect to stay pretty dry. Our next chance for snow comes Monday and into Tuesday. No predictions yet on amounts of snow as it is too far out and the models aren’t consistent yet. Until then, temperatures should be pretty seasonable.
February comes and serves as a bit of a month of transition between winter and spring. Average temperatures start to climb and things are generally pretty quiet. However the month can have its extremes as well. 
February 15th -17th Denver will play host to the 10th Annual National Storm Chaser Convention. The event will be held at the Raddison Hotel at I-225 and Parker Road (3200 South Parker Road). Most notably, the keynote speakers will be Dr. Josh Wurman and Sean Casey who appeared in the recently aired Discovery Channel special, Storm Chasers. This is a great opportunity for weather enthusiasts to share storm stories, learn more about severe weather and storm chasing, see new weather gadgetry and hear from some of the experts in weather related fields. 
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.
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? 
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.