The bottom of a growing supercell thunderstorm near Denver International Airport. (ThorntonWeather.com) View a slideshow of other images from the day below.
Yesterday’s forecast warned of the chance for severe storms and while Thornton escaped with just a few light rain showers, further to the east it was much more exciting. As storms rolled off the foothills ThorntonWeather.com followed them east of DIA.
Many of the storms that formed yesterday were cut-off by mid-level winds that kept them from reaching their full potential. One storm cell however reached full maturation eventually towering to an altitude of more than 25,000 feet.
The storm grew as it entered south-central Adams County south of Denver International Airport. As it moved to the east side it exploded in height and soon had a classic anvil with an overshooting top.
While the storm was high-based and did not generate a tornado, it did eventually drop large hail in north-central Adams and southern Morgan counties.
Being the only real action in the area the storm drew a great deal of attention from area storm chasers, including ThorntonWeather.com. At least a couple dozen chasers surrounded and followed the storm. Below are some of the photos we took.
North Metro Fire Rescue District's Reserve Engine 4 loaded up for transport to Arizona to battle the Wallow Fire. (North Metro Fire) Click the image to view a slideshow from the massive wildfire.
Four firefighters from North Metro Fire Rescue will be joining nearly 2,000 others from across the nation in battling a monstrous wildfire in Arizona. In less than two weeks the Wallow Fire has exploded to cover more than 600 square miles and sent smoke as far as the Denver area.
The hometown heroes from North Metro will be taking along a reserve fire engine to help battle the blaze. Two firefighters and a watertender from Eagle River Fire will round out a Colorado contingent of personnel with additional deployments possible.
The fire, believed to have been started by an unattended campfire, has burned 389,000 acres making it the second largest fire in Arizona history. It is burning largely in the Apache National Forest in the eastern part of the state and now threatens to cross into New Mexico.
More than 3,000 firefighters from across the nation, 197 engines, 61 watertenders and 16 helicopters and a number of aerial tankers were battling the blaze as of this morning. Personnel and equipment continue to pour into the area.
Size: 348,235 acres based on last night’s infared flight
Aircraft: 16 helicopters
Percent Contained: 0%
Injuries to Date: 3 minor injuries
Structures:
4,018 threatened; 1 damaged; 16 lost
Area Command Team 3 (Jim Loach, Area Commander) is now managing the Wallow Fire
Media should call 480-331-9554 to coordinate interviews.
There will be media briefings today at 10am and 9pm at the Rest Stop on Hwy 60, north of Springerville.
Current Evacuations
· Full evacuation of Eagar and Springerville. The evacuations were ordered by the Apache County Sheriff’s Office about 4:00 p.m. on June 8.
· Sunrise, Greer, Blue River, Alpine, Nutrioso, and the following subdivisions along highways 180/191: Escudilla Mountain Estates, Bonita, White Mtn. Acres, and the H-V Ranch. This area includes County Road (CR) 4000, CR 4001, and CR 4225.
· The evacuation center is located at Blue Ridge High School, 1200 W. White Mtn. Blvd., Pinetop-Lakeside.
Pre-Evacuation Alert
A pre-evacuation alert has been issued by Apache County for Greens Peak, Hidden Meadow and the surrounding areas.
· A pre-evacuation alert has been issued by Catron County Sheriff’s Office for Luna, New Mexico.
Residents in the communities affected by this fire are asked to remain prepared in the event an evacuation order is needed.
Residents with livestock or animals that need care should contact the Apache County Sheriff’s Office (928) 337-4321 or the Greenlee County Sheriff’s Office (928) 865-4149.
Road Closures
· The Arizona Department of Transportation reminds motorists traveling that the following closures on state highways remain in effect:
-more-
· Nearly 20 miles of U.S. 60 has been closed from Springerville to the New Mexico state line due
· to the Wallow Fire in eastern Arizona. This closure stretches from milepost 384 to 401.
· State Route 260 is closed in both directions east of the Hawley Lake turnoff (State Route 473 junction) and Eagar. SR 260 is closed between mileposts 372-398 near Eagar.
· State Route 373, a 4.5 mile-long highway that connects the town of Greer in eastern Arizona with SR 260 west of Eagar, is closed.
· U.S. 191 is closed between Alpine and north of Clifton (mileposts 176-253).
· State routes 261 and 273, the main access roads to Big Lake and Crescent Lake in the White Mountains, are closed. SR 261 is closed starting approximately seven miles south of SR 260 to Crescent Lake (mileposts 395-413) and SR 273 is closed between the SR 260 junction and to the SR 261 junction (mileposts 378-394).
· U.S. 180 is closed between the SR 260 junction near Eagar and the New Mexico state line (mileposts 403-433).
Last night, fire crews concentrated their efforts prepping roads and dozer lines for burnout operations south of Route 851 and Circle Flat area that leads into New Mexico. Fire activity increased on the west side of the fire towards the communities of Greer and Eagar due to high wind and low humidity.
Crews are currently stationed at Big Lake to reduce travel times, ensuring firefighter safety. Structural protection is in place in Greer, South Fork, Eagar, Alpine, Nutrioso, and Escudillo Flats. Firefighters will be conducting burnout operations on the northern and eastern portions of the fire to p limit the fire’s spread. Firefighters continue to hold line, mop-up, and patrol other areas of the fire. Creeping, smoldering, and active backing fire with short upslope runs was observed yesterday on the southern portion of fire. Firefighters are constructing indirect line and conducting burnout operations. Today southwest winds of 8-15mph with gusts to 25 mph are expected.
Closures
Due to extreme fire conditions, the Apache National Forest is closed to all public entry. See website for closure order details. Please see the Forest website for more information:http://www.fs.fed.us/r3/asnf/.
Apache-Sitgreaves National Forests Fire Restrictions: A Temporary Emergency Closure Order
was issued effective June 3 at 12:00 p.m. (noon). For more information, please call the Arizona fire restrictions hotline 1-877-864-6985 or visit http://www.publiclands.org/firenews/AZ.php.
Public Information
For Wallow Fire Information, please visit http://www.inciweb.org/, www.twitter.com/AS NF, andwww.flickr.com/apachesitgreavesnf or call (928) 333-3412, (702) 308-3238, (702) 308-3357, or (702) 308-8227. Please let us know if you would like to receive updates via e-mail. Public information officers are also posting information in local communities and the evacuation center located at Blue Ridge High School in Pinetop-Lakeside.
Satellite imagery shows smoke from the Wallow Fire in Arizona entering Colorado. Click the image for a larger view.
Recent days have brought hazy conditions to the Denver area and all along the Colorado Front Range. At times residents have even smelled smoke and the culprit lies hundreds of miles to our south.
Two fires burning near Trinidad as well as one in southern New Mexico were attributed to the hazy conditions early last week. Now a massive fire in eastern Arizona is sending smoke our way and causing the horizon to be obscured
The fire burning 250 miles northeast of Phoenix has been dubbed the Wallow Fire and is burning through lush but dry forest. At latest estimates the blaze has scorched 144,000 acres making it the third largest blaze in Arizona’s history.
More than 1,300 firefighters from across the nation are on the scene and battling the blaze. Zero containment has been established but firefighters have made progress in recent days slowing its advance.
The images to the top right and below were taken by NASA and NOAA satellites and clearly show the smoke from the blaze.
In this image from NASA, the smoke from the Wallow Fire in Arizona as well as others further to the south and in Mexico is seen.
May 2011 will go into the books as the 11th coldest and 5th wettest May on record in Denver.
There was little doubt that last month was a wet one and now that May 2011 has come to a close we can see that it certainly was. In fact, it was one of the wettest Mays on record and also one of the coldest.
Up until the last few days of the month it looked like we were going to make the top 10 list for coldest Mays on record. But, thanks to a few near-normal days, our average temperature for the month ended at 53.1 degrees. This fell just short of the number 10 spot on the list of 53.0 degrees recorded in 1950.
Nevertheless the month’s average temperature was 4.1 degrees below the normal of 57.2 degrees. Our warmest temperature of the month of 86 degrees was recorded on both the 7th and the 8th and those were two of only three days with temperatures above 80 degrees.
On the low end the coldest temperature was seen on the 5th when the mercury dropped to 28 degrees. This is also the last time we saw a temperature at or below freezing and will almost certainly be the last for the 2010 – 2011 winter season. Coincidentally, May 5th is the average date of our last freeze so we were right on the mark this year.
Here in Thornton we saw an average temperature of 52.9 degrees. Our warmest temperature was 86.8 degrees and our coldest 29.2 degrees.
May brought an abundance of precipitation eliciting many jokes about Denver having swapped locations with Seattle. In all, 4.79 inches of moisture was recorded at Denver International Airport during the month putting it in the books as the 7th wettest May on record. This was 2.47 inches above the May average of 2.32 inches.
Here in Thornton we recorded nearly an inch of precipitation more than what was recorded at DIA. ThorntonWeather.com saw 5.67 inches fall into our bucket for the month.
On average we record 1.3 inches of snow in May but last month continued the trend we saw all winter of a severe lack of snowfall. Only 1.0 inch of the white stuff was recorded at DIA and most of the metro area saw nothing during the month (including Thornton).
Given that it is highly unlikely June will bring any snow to Denver, the 2010 to 2011 season will wrap up with only 22.8 inches of snow – far below the 61.7 inches average. This will put the season into the history books as the 2nd least snowiest snow season on record. Only the 1888 to 1889 season saw less with 21.3 inches.
Thornton actually fared worse throughout the entire snow season and we are going to wrap it up with a paltry 21.2 inches.
June is historically Denver’s severe weather month and severe thunderstorms, tornadoes and hail are notorious visitors to Denver and across eastern Colorado during the month.
In fact, over 40 percent of the tornadoes that occur in Colorado are observed in June and these are typically the most destructive of the year. Thornton of course knows this fact well as this year we celebrate the 30th anniversary of the infamous Thornton tornado of June 3, 1981.
Severe thunderstorms have also caused major property damage across the Front Range during the month. Just last year hail the size of golf balls caused damage across parts of central and northeastern Thornton.
Trail Ridge Road will be unable to open before Memorial Day as Rocky Mountain National Park has received more snow this year than in any of the past 20 years. View a slideshow of the piled up snow below. (RMNP / NPS)
Historically the highest continuous road in the United States, Trail Ridge Road, opens right before the Memorial Day weekend. That won’t be the case this year as with snow falling as recently as just a couple of days ago, the snow is just too deep.
The Denver Weather Examiner has a story about the mountains of snow up in Rocky Mountain National Park. The snow up there approaches levels not seen in the past 20 years.
Just last week a winter storm dumped snow across the northern Colorado mountains and along the Continental Divide. On the east side of Rocky Mountain National Park, snow drifts reached 17 feet high above Rainbow Curve.
The heavy snow accumulation, snow drifts and rock slides are hampering efforts to open the road this season. Snowplow operators said they were battling the most snow this late in the season in the past 30 years.
The central and northern Colorado mountains have seen an extraordinary amount of snowfall this year with the snowpack approaching record levels. In stark contrast, Denver is likely to finish the snow season with the second least amount of snow on record.
To date Denver has officially recorded a paltry 22.8 inches of the white stuff. Here in Thornton we have fared worse with only 21.8 inches. Recent rains have helped to ease the drought but we will need to keep moisture coming to prevent a bad fire season this summer.
ThorntonWeather.com's new Severe Weather Briefing page brings together a variety of severe weather resources and information to help keep residents of the north Denver metro area safe.
Recent tornado outbreaks in other parts of the nation serve as a reminder of the dangers severe weather presents. As Colorado prepares to enter its severe weather season, Thornton’s only true local source for weather information ramps up its severe weather monitoring capabilities.
One of the deadliest tornado outbreaks in U.S. history struck the south last month. Just this past Sunday a tornado that will likely go into the books as the deadliest single twister since 1953 hit Joplin, Missouri. Closer to home, it was just three years ago this week that a massive EF-3 tornado ripped through Windsor, Colorado killing one man and causing millions of dollars in damage.
Severe weather presents a very real threat to residents of Colorado. From flooding rains to hail and of course tornadoes we can and do see it all. This year is the 30th anniversary of the 1981 Thornton tornado, the most destructive tornado to have ever hit the Denver metro area.
For all the latest Thornton weather news, follow us on Twitter and ‘like’ us on Facebook.
To help ensure that residents are armed with the news and information needed to keep them and their families safe, ThorntonWeather.com has recently expanded its severe weather products. Residents of the north Denver metro area will find new tools allowing them to monitor the weather in real time as conditions take a turn for the worse.
A new Severe Weather Briefing page on the website provides a one-stop shop for everything severe weather related. The page shows current weather watches and warnings as well as thumbnail images that link to current radar, webcams, a lightning monitor and more.
Also recently added is an Interactive Radar page that supplements ThorntonWeather.com’s existing radar system. The new page allows site visitors to pan around a map and zoom in on any area not only in Colorado but across the nation. Visitors can then see exactly where the severe weather is and where it is headed.
As Thornton’s only true local source for weather, ThorntonWeather.com is dedicated to providing residents with weather information for where they live – not at the airport and not downtown like other news media and weather outlets.
“As a kid the 1981 Thornton tornado sparked my fascination with severe weather,” Tony Hake, owner and operator of ThorntonWeather.com, said. “Adams County and the City of Thornton both lack severe weather warning systems and we are simply trying to fill the gap as best we can. If ThorntonWeather.com can serve a purpose by helping to keep people safe when the weather turns ugly then our mission has been accomplished.”
ThorntonWeather.com is your local source for Thornton weather and weather related news. Provided as a service to the community, ThorntonWeather.com offers real-time weather information, forecasts, radar, statistics and more!
The Thornton Multipurpose Fields at 108th Avenue and Colorado Blvd were flooded by heavy rains and hail on Wednesday, May 18, 2011. (City of Thornton)
Yesterday’s bout of severe weather dropped more than 2 inches of rain and buried parts of the city in a blanket of white hail. All of it was too much for the City of Thornton’s Multipurpose Field which was submerged by the deluge and the city has announced that ThorntonFest has been cancelled.
“Even though the Saturday forecast calls for a nicer day, we must make the call now,” Thornton Community Services Executive Director Mike Soderberg said in a press release. “Attempting to host an event on fields this wet would result in tens of thousands of dollars in damage.”
The annual festival draws tens of thousands of visitors and is highly popular with residents. All related events have been cancelled as well with the exception being the Cottonwood Classic 5K. That event will still take place at 8:00am at the Thorncreek Shopping Center.
In the wake of the severe weather yesterday the city posted images of the fields submerged under water. Thornton has recorded 2.25 inches of rain in the past 24 hours and parts of the city saw hail reach depths of 3 to 4 inches.
“No one is more disappointed than our staff,” Soderberg said. “They work for hours preparing for these events and watched Wednesday as all of that work flowed down Grange Hall Creek.”
For all the latest Thornton weather news, follow us on Twitter and ‘like’ us on Facebook.
The Thornton Multipurpose Fields are covered with water from rain and hail after severe weather moved through Thornton. (City of Thornton)
It was quite an eventful afternoon in the Denver metro area as thunderstorms spawned funnel clouds and massive amounts of hail. ThorntonWeather.com’s webcams captured part of the action as the hail piled up enough to make it look like snow.
Our east webcam started to show some light precipitation before 1:00pm and before 3:00pm hail was falling. Mercifully the size of the hail stones remained small but at our location we received a good couple of inches of accumulation. Watch the time lapse video below.
For all the latest Thornton weather news, follow us on Twitter and ‘like’ us on Facebook.
In the area of I-25 and 120th Avenue hail 4 to 5 inches was seen. At the Thornton Multipurpose Fields at 108th and Colorado Blvd where ThorntonFest is to be held this Saturday, the fields were extensively flooded. Images posted by the city to its Facebook page show the mess the rain and hail created.
Funnel clouds were seen across much of the north metro area, mainly in unincorporated Adams County just south of Thornton. As of this writing, no actual tornadoes have been reported.
The Front Range is just beginning to enter its severe weather season. Unfortunately neither the City of Thornton or Adams County provide any sort of warning system to protect residents against the severe weather threat.
Thornton did recently look into alert systems but decided against deploying one. Instead it is waiting for the federal government to deploy its Personal Localized Alerting Network (PLAN). This is disappointing as there are no guarantees that PLAN will launch on time in 2012 or if it will work as advertised. The vast majority of Colorado counties already have systems in place but Thornton and Adams County residents are left without.
Not only did Denver and Thornton see warmer than normal temperatures in April, so did the rest of the globe. Click the image for a larger version. (NOAA)
With the effects of La Nina still in full force the globe’s temperatures performed as forecasted during April 2011. According to NOAA the month ranked as the seventh warmest April on record while Denver saw warmer and drier than normal conditions as well.
Denver saw an average temperature during the month of 48.4 degrees – 0.8 degree above normal. Temperatures ranged from a record high of 84 degrees on the 2nd down to a low of 19 on the 4th of the month. Fifteen days saw temperatures dip below the freezing mark which is four more than normal.
Here in Thornton we were slightly cooler with an average of 48.1 degrees for April. Our high ranged from 86.3 degrees down to a low of 20.6 degrees.
The lack of precipitation and snowfall was one of the biggest stories of the month for the Mile High City. A mere 1.07 inch of precipitation was recorded in Denver’s rain bucket which was 0.86 inch below the normal of 1.93 inches.
Snowfall was similarly dismal as only 1.2 inches of snow was recorded at Denver International Airport. This was far below the normal of 9.1 inches for April which is historically our fourth snowiest month. Through April 30, a mere 21.8 inches of snow has been recorded at Denver’s official monitoring site at Denver International Airport – the second worst snow season to date.
Thornton was a bit wetter than Denver as we recorded 1.54 inches of liquid precipitation. In terms of snowfall we received only 1.5 inches, most of which (1.3”) fell on the 3rd of the month.
Overall the globe saw warm temperatures as well. The combined land and ocean temperature average for the month was 57.76° F which was 1.06° above the 20th century average. Taken separately the land surface temperature was 2.02° above normal and sea temperatures were 0.70° above normal.
The Earth experienced the seventh warmest April since record keeping began in 1880, as the climate phenomenon La Niña continued to be a significant factor. April’s annual Arctic sea ice extent was the fifth smallest since record keeping began in 1979, while the Antarctic sea ice extent was the fourth smallest.
The monthly analysis from NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center in Asheville, N.C., is part of the suite of climate services NOAA provides government, business and community leaders so they can make informed decisions.
Global Temperature Highlights – April
The combined global land and ocean average surface temperature for April 2011 was the seventh warmest on record at 57.76 F (14.29 C), which is 1.06 F (0.59 C) above the 20th century average of 56.7 F (13.7 C). The margin of error associated with this temperature is +/- 0.13 F (0.07 C).
Separately, the global land surface temperature was 2.02 F (1.12 C) above the 20th century average of 46.5 F (8.1 C), which was the sixth warmest April on record. The margin of error is +/- 0.20 F (0.11 C). Warmer-than-average conditions occurred across most of the southern United States and northern Mexico, much of central South America, Europe and Siberia. Cooler-than-average regions included most of Alaska, western Canada, the northwestern United States, southwestern Greenland and most of Australia.
The April global ocean surface temperature was 0.70 F (0.39 C) above the 20th century average of 60.9 F (16.0 C), making it the 11th warmest April on record. The margin of error is +/- 0.07 F (0.04 C). The warmth was most pronounced in the eastern Atlantic Ocean, the northwestern Pacific and across the Southern Hemisphere mid-latitudes.
The average temperature was the warmest on record for April across the United Kingdom. Germany reported its second warmest April since records began in 1881.
Global Temperature Highlights – Year-to-date
The combined global land and ocean average surface temperature for the year to date (January – April 2011) was 0.86 F (0.48 C) above the 20th century average of 54.8 F (12.6 C), making it the 14th warmest on record. The margin of error is +/- 0.16 F (0.09 C).
The year-to-date worldwide land surface temperature was 1.33 F (0.74 C) above the 20th century average — the 17th warmest such period on record. The margin of error is +/- 0.36 F (0.20 C). Warmer-than-average conditions were particularly felt across the southern half of Greenland, Siberia, northern Mexico, the southern United States and across Africa. Cooler-than-average regions included central Canada, the northern United States, western Russia, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, extreme southeast Asia and most of Australia.
The global ocean surface temperature for the year-to-date was 0.68 F (0.38 C) above the 20th century average and was the 11th warmest such period on record. The margin of error is +/-0.07 F (0.04 C). The warmth was most pronounced across parts of the most of the western Pacific Ocean, the tropical Atlantic Ocean, the North Atlantic near Greenland and Canada, and the southern mid-latitude oceans.
La Niña conditions continued to weaken in April for the fourth consecutive month, although sea-surface temperatures remained below normal across the central and eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean. According to NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center, La Niña will continue to have global impacts as the event continues to decline, but by late spring neither La Niña nor El Niño conditions are expected to prevail in the region.
Effective May 2, 2011, NOAA updated its monthly mean temperature dataset, which is used to calculate global land surface temperature anomalies and trends. The Global Historical Climate Network-Monthly (GHCN-M) version 3 dataset replaced GHCN-M version 2. Beginning with this month’s Global State of the Climate Report, GHCN-M version 3 is used for National Climatic Data Center climate monitoring products. More information on this transition can be found at:http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/ghcnm.
Polar Sea Ice and Precipitation Highlights
The average Arctic sea ice extent during April was 5.7 percent below average, ranking as the fifth smallest April since satellite records began in 1979.
The April 2011 Antarctic sea ice extent was 7.7 percent below average and was fourth lowest April extent since records began in 1979.
Northern Hemisphere snow cover extent during April ranked as the 15th smallest on record, while the snow cover extent over North America was the 10th largest and Eurasian snow cover was the fifth smallest April snow cover on record.
Average rainfall across Australia was 18 percent above average during April. However, for the first month since June 2010, below-average rainfall was reported in the states of Queensland, South Australia and New South Wales. This broke a streak of nine consecutive months with above-normal rainfall in those states.
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June is historically Denver’s severe weather month and severe thunderstorms, tornadoes and hail are notorious visitors to Denver and across eastern Colorado during the month.
