Category Archives: Thornton Weather

Colorado Weather, Thornton Weather

Proposed National Weather Service budget cuts would impact Thornton residents

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A proposed 30% cut in the National Weather Service's budget could lead to greater loss of life. (Examiner.com)
A proposed 30% cut in the National Weather Service's budget could lead to greater loss of life. (Examiner.com)

The National Weather Service is the nation’s frontline of defense against many forms of threats from Mother Nature.  As the sole agency responsible for issuing weather related warnings and alerts, a proposed massive cut in the budget for the service could have dire consequences.

Colorado’s weather is as varied as any state in the union.  Our true four seasons allow us to witness the entire gamut of weather from scorching hot summers to winters buried in feet of snow to springtime severe weather with damaging and deadly tornadoes.  Knowing what is going on with the weather is critical in allowing us to protect ours and families’ lives.

Budget cuts being proposed in Washington DC could severely decrease the accuracy and frequency of weather related information we receive.  A massive cut of $126 million to the National Weather Service’s budget is being proposed – a full 30% cut in funding for a service that provides information that saves lives every day.

When you view a detailed forecast on ThorntonWeather.com that is specifically for Thornton, you are viewing data provided by the National Weather Service.  Our radar imagery, weather radio, the watches and warnings that we post – all originate from the National Weather Service.

Continue reading Proposed National Weather Service budget cuts would impact Thornton residents →

Thornton Weather

Weather Underground website revamp pushes it ahead of other weather sources

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Weather Underground website screenshot
The redesigned Weather Underground website is a great source for weather information. (WeatherUnderground.com)

Certainly for truly local, Thornton weather, ThorntonWeather.com is the place to go.  However you sometimes want a bigger picture or details on the weather for a different location and for that, a newly revamped Weather Underground website is the place to go.

We here at ThorntonWeather.com are big fans of the Weather Underground.  The site has always provided much greater depth and detail with more features than local media outlets and even more than the ‘big names’ like the Weather Channel.

Further, Weather Underground brings in the data from thousands of personal weather stations (PWS) like ThorntonWeather.com’s and uses those to provide local conditions to visitors – not airports miles away.  In return, Weather Underground allows PWS  owners to use their data freely, something which we do on ThorntonWeather.com and truly appreciate the reciprocity.

Where does ThorntonWeather.com use Weather Underground data?

We recently wrote about the newly redesigned Weather Underground site on Examiner.com and thought ThorntonWeather.com readers would like to learn more and add this resource to their bookmarks.   Continue reading Weather Underground website revamp pushes it ahead of other weather sources →

Colorado Weather, Thornton Weather

Satellite image shows a snow covered Colorado

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February 10, 2011 - Satellite image of Colorado and surrounding states showing the extensive snow cover.
February 10, 2011 - Satellite image of Colorado and surrounding states showing the extensive snow cover. Click the image for a larger version. (NASA)

The recent snowstorm covered not only Thornton but the vast majority of Colorado in a blanket of white.  The latest satellite imagery from NASA shows the extent of the snow stretching across the state from border to border.

The satellite image, taken by NASA’s Aqua satellite on February 10th, shows the impressive snowfall received by the entire region.  Not only is Colorado covered but the neighboring states of Wyoming, Nebraska and Kansas are covered in snow as well.

Thornton received relatively little snowfall from the recent storm system but the temperatures were bitter cold.  Denver set a record low maximum temperature for February 8th, the second time since the first of the year that mark was set.

Click on the image to the right to view a larger image.

Thornton Weather

Denver ties temperature record for February 8th

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Record Cold Temperatures
Denver tied a 78 year old record temperature for February 8th.

We of course knew it was cold yesterday but now we know exactly how cold.  At Denver International Airport the high temperature yesterday only climbed to 8 degrees.  This ties the record low maximum for the date last set in 1933.

Highlighting that is the fact that the “high” temperature occurred soon after midnight at 12:28am.  It was all downhill from there throughout the day as cold air settled in.  Daytime highs in Denver were only around 6 degrees.

Here in Thornton we virtually matched the official Denver high as we climbed to 8.3 degrees.  That occurred right at midnight.

Thornton Weather

So how cold did it get in Thornton? Cold enough to freeze boiling water instantly

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ThorntonWeather.com tested the theory that boiling water turns to ice crystals when thrown into sub-zero air. It worked! Check out the video below. (ThorntonWeather.com)
ThorntonWeather.com tested the theory that boiling water turns to ice crystals when thrown into sub-zero air. It worked! Check out the video below. (ThorntonWeather.com)

To say it has been cold would be a major understatement.  Yesterday Denver’s “high” temperature only reached -2 degrees and this morning DIA dropped to -17 degrees, one degree shy of the record low temperature for the date.  We decided to have a little fun with the cold weather in our Thornton backyard yesterday. 

One fun experiment to do when the temperatures is so cold is to demonstrate how boiling hot water instantly freezes when thrown in the air.  We figured it would make a great story for our work on Examiner.com and thought we would share the results here.

Your intrepid local weather geek conducted the experiment at a time when the sun was partially shining but the temperature was a bone chilling 1.4 degrees below zero.  For what it is worth, with a 9 mph wind that was generating a wind chill of 14 degrees below! 

The experiment is conducted simply using a pot of boiling water.  When the water is taken outside in zero degree or colder weather and thrown into the air, the water instantly freezes in a cloud of ice crystals. 

It is interesting to note that if you do this with cold water, you simply end up dumping water everywhere – it doesn’t freeze!  That of course begs the question, how does boiling hot water freeze faster than cold water?

This phenomenon actually has a name – the Mpemba effect – named after Erasto Mpemba, a student in Tanzania in the 1960s who studied it.  While it is named after Mpemba, other luminaries including Aristotle spent time analyzing it.

Dr. Joe Larsen, a chemist at the Rockwell Science Center in Los Angeles, explains that the hot water breaks into tiny droplets when it is thrown because it is close to being steam.  The heat from the small droplets freezes virtually instantly resulting in the ice crystal cloud. 

This doesn’t happen with cold water because it is thicker and in a closer to solid state (or at least not as close to turning to evaporative gas as the boiling water is).  As such, it doesn’t break up as easily and falls to the ground in blobs. 

So, for those of you with kids at home because school is canceled, you can now put their time to good use by conducting a science experiment in the cold!

Thornton Weather

A very slight warm up for Thornton followed by more unsettled weather

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Continued cold in Thornton and across northeastern Colorado. The weather will remain unsettled through at least the first part of next week. (ThorntonWeather.com)
Continued cold in Thornton and across northeastern Colorado. The weather will remain unsettled through at least the first part of next week. (ThorntonWeather.com)

The big freeze that sent the temperatures in the Mile High City plummeting far below zero is not over yet.  Continued cold weather is expected on Wednesday and the overall pattern in the longer term will be unsettled. 

Yesterday the temperature at Denver International Airport only reached a high of -2 degrees.  This broke the previous record low maximum for the date and is the first time in 14 years that Denver’s high temperature was below zero.  Click here for more details on that record.

Yet another record may fall today – that of the coldest temperature for this date.  The record is -18 degrees set just four years ago in 2007.  As of 6:00am the coldest it had gotten today at DIA was -17 degrees so it is a bit hit or miss as to whether or not we break the record. 

Here in Thornton, as of this writing, the lowest temperature today has been -14.6 degrees.  This is the coldest temperature recorded at ThorntonWeather.com since we came online in October 2006.  The previous coldest temperature we recorded was -14.1 degrees on December 15, 2008. 

For today we are going to continue to see below freezing temperatures as while we start a warm up, it won’t amount to much.  Further, a Wind Chill Advisory remains in effect until 9:00am as breezy conditions will allow wind chill temperatures as low as -25 degrees. 

The extended forecast for Thornton beginning Wednesday, February 2, 2011.
The extended forecast for Thornton beginning Wednesday, February 2, 2011.

Skies will gradually clear today and there will be sun above but we will still only reach a high temperature of 8 degrees.  Overnight lows tonight will drop to around zero degrees, perhaps even a bit lower given clear skies. 

On Thursday we do finally expect to see temperatures climb above freezing but not by a lot.  Highs will be around 36 degrees and a weak system gives us just the slightest chance to see a snow flurry although no accumulation is expected.

Friday will bring the warmest day of the week as temperatures climb to the mid 40s.  That however will be short lived. 

Another Arctic air mass is forecast to impact the weekend weather sending the mercury down and again bringing us a chance for snow.  Mercifully this system is not going to be as cold as the one we are pulling out of today.  Snow amounts again don’t look to be anything extraordinary but some models are pointing toward a more significant snow event.  We will know more as it gets closer. 

Thornton Weather

Temperature record falls – First time in 14 years Denver’s high temp did not get above zero

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Denver set a record low maximum temperature for this date.

With bone chilling cold having settled in along the Colorado Front Range, we knew a weather record had to fall and one did.  Denver set a record low maximum temperature for February 1. 

The official high temperature as measured at Denver International Airport only climbed to a high of -1 degrees.  This broke the previous record low maximum for this date of 2 degrees set in 1985.  Here in Thornton we fared a bit better hitting 2.7 degrees at 1:07pm.

As noted by the National Weather Service, this is the first time since January of 1997 that Denver saw a high temperature below zero degrees.  On January 12th and 13th of the year, the high only reached to -1 degrees. 

Will more records fall with this cold spell?  It is definitely possible.  Low temperatures overnight on Tuesday and into Monday morning are forecast to approach 18 degrees below zero.  The record low temperature for February 2nd is -17 set way back in 1901.

Thornton Weather

The Big Freeze – Snow and Arctic cold to be main Thornton weather feature

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CDOT snowplows on I-25
CDOT snowplows work on I-25 near 104th Avenue Monday afternoon. Arctic cold will be a major hazard as wind chills could dip to 35 degrees below zero over the next 36 hours. (ThorntonWeather.com)

Storm update, 4:30pm – The thermometer only knows one way through the rest of today and tonight – down!  Thus far Thornton has dipped to 6 degrees with wind chill values around -3 and it is far from done dropping.

The National Weather Service has modified the weather warnings / watches for the next 12 hours or so.  The Winter Weather Advisory for snow will continue through midnight.  New however is a Wind Chill Warning that will be in effect from midnight through 6:00am Wednesday.

In terms of snow we will continue to see a pretty steady stream of light snowfall through the extended period but accumulations will be light.  Most areas will see a couple inches additional accumulation with higher amounts south and west in the foothills and along the Palmer Divide. 

The cold continues to be the real story.  Temperatures overnight will be dropping to five below zero with some places possibly getting even colder.  Couple the cold air with gusty winds to 25 mph and wind chill readings will be between 15 and 35 degrees below zero. 

These temperatures will be very dangerous for anyone caught outside in the cold.  Hypothermia and frostbite can settle in very quickly and everyone needs to be aware.

Roads continue to be icy and snowpacked and the afternoon and morning rush hour are going to be rough around the metro area.  Drivers should exercise extreme caution.

All Thornton area school districts have announced they will be closed on Tuesday including Adams 12, Adams 14, Adams 50, Mapleton, and Brighton 27J.

Continue reading The Big Freeze – Snow and Arctic cold to be main Thornton weather feature →

Thornton Weather

Thornton set to get a taste of the Arctic; Winter Weather Advisory issued

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A Winter Weather Advisory will go into effect at 6:00am on Monday as snow and bitter cold arrive. (ThorntonWeather.com)
A Winter Weather Advisory will go into effect at 6:00am on Monday as snow and bitter cold arrive. (ThorntonWeather.com)

A major winter storm is set to impact nearly two thirds of the nation starting tomorrow including Thornton and the rest of northeastern Colorado.  The National Weather Service has issued a Winter Weather Advisory for our area warning of blowing snow and dangerous cold.

The service is warning of total snow accumulations of 3 to 7 inches for the event from tomorrow morning through Tuesday.  Snow is expected to start lightly on Monday morning then increase in intensity in the afternoon and continue overnight into Tuesday morning. 

Arctic cold will be a prominent feature of this system sending the mercury plummeting into areas that present a very real danger to people and property.  Monday will see temperatures at about 26 degrees at 6:00am but then decreasing continually throughout the day and overnight when it will drop below zero. 

Tomorrow’s afternoon commute and the Tuesday morning commute are likely to be rough ones so you will want to plan accordingly. 

Tuesday’s high temperature will struggle to even get above zero and overnight temperatures on Tuesday could drop all the way to 15 degrees below zero.  Wednesday will warm only slightly with highs of around 10 degrees.

Continue reading Thornton set to get a taste of the Arctic; Winter Weather Advisory issued →

Thornton Weather

Wednesday’s snowstorm in 10 seconds or less

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To say today’s snowstorm was a fast mover doesn’t do it justice.  The storm hit fast and furious and many doubted our forecasts for only light snowfall.  But, as quickly as it arrived the winter storm departed and the event was over by nightfall.

In a span of three hours or so Thornton received 1.2 inches of snow.  Of course it is a bummer to have to withstand the traffic problems caused by a storm that brought so little.  To top it off we now have to wash our cars which hadn’t been clean but for a few days.  Not much return for the hassle, even if we need the moisture.  🙂

The time lapse video below captures the entire event from start to finish and does it in about 9 seconds.