This funnel cloud was seen from the Thornton Civic Center (looking north) on June 10, 2009. Image courtesy Lisa Wilson, the City of Thornton.
If you happen to be outside or listening to broadcast media this morning, don’t be surprised to hear a tornado warning / siren. As part of Severe Weather Awareness Week, the National Weather Service will be conducting a statewide tornado test around 9:15am.
The service is urging all government agencies, schools, businesses, broadcast media and emergency management agencies to participate in this important drill.
This is a good time for citizens to ensure they are prepared and know what to do when a tornado strikes. As we saw with last year’s tornado activity and in 2008 with the Windsor tornado, twisters can and do strike the Denver area. Preparation and planning are critical to ensuring you and your family remain safe.
It is perhaps most fitting that Colorado saw its first tornado of 2010 yesterday. The twister which struck in Kit Carson County 11 miles south-southwest of Bethune caused no damage. However, it serves as an important reminder.
Despite the snowstorm that struck on March 23rd and 24th and the rain that fell beforehand, the National Weather Service says Denver's March precipitation was below normal.
According to the Denver / Boulder office of the National Weather Service, Denver’s March weather was warmer and drier than normal. The latest climate summary from the service would seem to contradict what Denver residents actually experienced, at least in terms of precipitation.
The report starts with a seemingly contradictory statement saying, “Denver’s March 2010 finished with below normal liquid moisture in spite of finishing above normal in the snowfall category.”
According to the report, Denver recorded 0.80 inch of precipitation, well below the normal of 1.28 inches. Most of that occurred in conjunction with the snowstorm on the 23rd of the month when the official measuring station at Denver International Airport (DIA) reported 0.61 inch of precipitation. By contrast, ThorntonWeather.com recorded 1.42 inches of precipitation from that storm alone and 1.90 inches for the month.
Overall for the season, Denver has recorded 58.8 inches of snow which is 7.5 inches above the average snowfall up to this point. Denver’s snow season runs from July through June and we average 61.7 inches over that period so for 2010 we are quickly approaching a ‘normal’ year.
The average temperature as recorded at DIA was 41.0 degrees which was 1.4 degrees above the normal of 39.6 degrees. Temperatures for the month ranged from a high of 82 degrees on the 30th down to a low of 13 degrees on the 20th. The 82 degree high temperature on the 30th broke the record for that date of 81 degrees set way back in 1879.
Controversy once again surrounds measurements in latest report
The March 2010 climate summary once again highlights the problem. Comparison of temperature records for DIA versus areas closer to historical monitoring locations continue to show discrepancies. Standing out even more are precipitation records that are curious at best, ridiculous at worst given the wet snowstorm that struck on the 23rd and 24th.
The Denver Weather Examiner is in the process of updating our previous investigation and will have an updated report soon. In the meantime, you may wish to look at the results of the investigation we conducted last year.
Thornton and the Front Range are under a Red Flag Warning until 8:00pm Saturday.
Thornton, the Front Range and most of southeastern Colorado are under a Red Flag Warning through 8:00pm tonight. The snow last week is a distant memory and winds and warm temperatures have created very dry conditions.
Winds have been increasing throughout the day and will continue to do so for the next few hours before they gradually ease. Humidities are exceptionally low, below 20% in many areas, and temperatures remain mild. These conditions have dried ground fuels and create a potentially hazardous situation.
Remember, a Red Flag Warning means that critical fire weather conditions are occurring or imminent. The National Weather Service said the warning will remain in place until 8:00pm this evening.
Grassfires are not uncommon this time of year and if they get started they can quickly spread thanks to the gusty winds. It was 47 years ago yesterday that winds helped to quickly burn 25,000 of land in southern Weld County near Roggen.
Denver set a new high temperature record for today, breaking a 131 year old record.
Following on last week’s wintry blast, residents of the Mile High City were anxious for spring-like weather and they received it today. Denver has officially set a new record high temperature for the date breaking a 131 year old record.
The National Weather Service reported that at 3:32pm the mercury reached 82 degrees at the official measuring station at Denver International Airport (DIA). This breaks the previous record of 81 degrees set in 1879. The service noted that Rutherford B. Hayes was our 19th president at the time.
Here at ThorntonWeather.com, we reached a high of 81.7 degrees at 4:01pm.
Other area stations reported similarly warm temperatures. Longmont reached a high temperature of 83 degrees breaking its old record of 81 degrees set in 1986. On the Rocky Mountain Weather Network, Arvada reached 84 degrees, north Denver 83 degrees, Littleton 81 degrees and Broomfield 83 degrees.
March 24, 2010 - Early morning look as the snowstorm comes to an end.
Colorado was slammed with an early spring snowstorm on Tuesday, March 23, 2010 that left the Mile High City buried in a blanket of white. Widespread poweroutages were reported, the evening commute was a mess and residents worked to dig themselves out from the heavy, wet snow.
Across the nation there are thousands of Personal Weather Stations (PWS) that are owned and operated by weather enthusiasts. These stations provide valuable services to their communities and their data is oftentimes used by local news media and even the National Weather Service.
ThorntonWeather.com is proud to be one of these stations providing local weather to residents of the City of Thornton. Our site has become extremely popular as we are the most comprehensive source for Thornton weather.
Our webcams followed the storm as it arrived in Thornton on Tuesday and below is a time lapse video from the east camera. The day starts out relatively nice with temperatures in the 40’s but by late afternoon, the video shows conditions deteriorating rapidly.
An image taken from ThorntonWeather.com's east camera at the height of the storm on Tuesday.
Update, 3:25pm: With many businesses and schools closed for the day, Thornton residents have spent the day digging out from a snowstorm that officially dumped 10 inches of snow in Denver. Areas to the west in the foothills and the south along the Palmer Divide had 18 inches or more while ThorntonWeather.com recorded 8.9 inches. Click here to view the latest snowfall reports.
This latest snowfall puts Denver at 12.0 inches of snow for the month as measured at the official station at Denver International Airport. That is slightly above the March average of 11.7 inches. For the season, Denver has recorded 58.0 inches which is fast approaching the average of 61.7 inches.
As in the past, questions continue to dog the weather measurements at DIA however as they don’t reflect what most of the population of Denver actually sees. The accuracy of the measurements also is questionable as yesterday DIA recorded 0.61 inch of precipitation – far below what was likely received between the rain and snow melt.
Out at DIA, operations are slowly getting back to normal after scores of flights had been canceled due to the weather. At one point the FAA imposed a hold on arriving flights so the airport could catch up on departures. Many flights had been delayed while waiting for deicing and snow removal operations.
Xcel Energy continues to try to work to restore power to all of its customers after up to 36,000 lost electricity. The power company’s website still lists hundreds of outages affecting thousands of customers, including many in Thornton.
Current weather warnings for northern Colorado. A Winter Storm Warning will go into effect for the Front Range including Thornton at 3:00pm Tuesday afternoon. (NWS)
Update, 7:10pm: Thornton is in full winter storm mode now. Wet, heavy snowfall is being seen across the Front Range and it is far from over. Many areas are reporting more than 5 inches of snowfall so far with some as high as nine inches. Here at ThorntonWeather.com we are up to 5.2 inches and counting!
Thundersnow was reported at the outset of the storm and Parker Examiner Melody Jones reports it is continuing in her area. It is a phenomena that many folks may not be familiar with but not all that unusal.
The snow is falling at rates up to 3 inches per hour and has covered many roads, particularly those in the northern, western and eastern parts of the city. Strong winds are driving the snow creating some drifting and limiting visibility.
Forecast total snow amounts have increased to the 8 to 16 inch range for the Denver metropolitan area. The foothills and Palmer Divide could see amounts approaching 2 feet.
Heavy snowfall will continue through the night and hazardous conditions will persist. All residents should avoid travel if at all possible. If you must go out, be sure to carry emergency supplies with you.
At Denver International Airport is reporting significant delays with some arriving and departing flights however airlines currently are not reporting any widespread cancellations. Air travelers should check with their airlines before going to DIA.
March 21 to March 27 - This week in Denver weather history
This may be the first full week of spring officially but as any longtime Colorado resident will tell you, spring-like weather is not a given this time of year. As we look back at this week in Denver weather history, it is very clear that oftentimes Old Man Winter insists on hanging around for a bit longer.
18-21
In 1907…a warm spell resulted in 6 daily temperature records. Record maximum temperatures of 82 degrees occurred on the 18th with 81 degrees on the 19th and 80 degrees on the 20th. Record high minimum temperatures of 52 degrees occurred on the 19th and 20th with 54 degrees on the 21st.
19-21
In 1888…heavy snowfall totaled 8.6 inches over downtown Denver. North winds were sustained to 27 mph on the 19th.
20-21
In 1878…warm days with high temperatures in the lower 70’s in the city…caused snow to melt on the palmer divide…which caused the waters in Cherry Creek to rise. The high…rapid running water damaged a home and eroded bridge footings and abutments. Some bridges became unsafe for the passage of trains.
In 1904…southwest winds sustained to 48 mph with gusts to 60 mph warmed the temperature to a high of 68 degrees on the 20th. The high was only 42 degrees on the 21st behind a cold front…which produced 1.3 inches of snow and northeast winds sustained to 27 mph overnight.
In 1923…post-frontal rain changed to heavy snow and totaled 8.2 inches over the city. North winds were sustained to 27 mph with gusts to 29 mph on the 20th. This was the second major snow in a week.
In 1932…rain changed to heavy snow…which totaled 6.2 inches in downtown Denver. North winds gusted to 22 mph on the 21st.
In 1948…heavy snowfall totaled 7.2 inches over downtown Denver.
In 1952…a major snow storm produced north wind gusts to 35 mph and dumped 16.9 inches of snowfall on Stapleton Airport. The maximum snow depth on the ground was 13 inches due to melting.
In 2000…heavy snow fell in and near the foothills of Douglas and Jefferson counties. Snowfall totals included: 9 inches near tiny town and 7 inches in Littleton. Snowfall totaled only 1.8 inches at the site of the former Stapleton International Airport. North winds gusted to 34 mph at Denver International Airport on the 20th.
20-22
In 1944…heavy snow fell over metro Denver for a total of 36 hours. The storm dumped 18.5 inches of snowfall over downtown Denver and 12.2 inches at Stapleton Airport. Fortunately…there were no strong winds with the storm. North winds to only 19 mph were recorded on the 21st.
21
In 1898…an apparent Canadian cold front produced strong winds and plunged temperatures from a high of 56 degrees to a low of 8 degrees late in the day. North winds were sustained to 48 mph with gusts to 60 mph.
In 1908…light snowfall of 1.3 inches produced 0.10 inch of precipitation. This…along with the 0.01 inch of precipitation on the 8th…resulted in the driest March on record with a total of 0.11 inch of precipitation.
In 1916…southwest winds were sustained to 46 mph with a gust to 48 mph. The Chinook winds warmed the temperature to a high of 62 degrees.
In 1923…heavy snowfall totaled 8.0 inches in downtown Denver.
In 1953…northwest winds gusting to 57 mph briefly reduced visibility to 3/4 miles in blowing dust at Stapleton Airport.
In 1981…rain changed rapidly to snow…but totaled only 2.8 inches at Stapleton International Airport. North winds gusting to 35 mph produced much blowing snow and reduced the visibility to a half mile at times. Over the higher elevations of south metro Denver…4 to 6 inches of snow were measured.
Sunny skies return to Thornton but temperatures remain cool.
Old Man Winter didn’t go down without a fight yesterday as he closed out Thornton’s last day of winter with a snowstorm. Today we look to start to bounce back on the first day of spring although temperatures will remain chilly.
Roadways at lower elevations were mostly wet while in the high country, accidents forced the closure of some highways and chain laws were in effect. Get the latest Colorado & Denver road report here.
Today we will start out the weekend with lingering cold temperatures although we will see the return of some sun. Highs will be in the mid-30’s under mostly sunny skies as the storm system moves toward the east.
Sunday we continue to bounce back and will start to make short work of melting that fresh snow. Sunny skies will be overhead and high temperatures will be in the low to mid-50’s.
As we enter the next workweek, high pressure over the region continues the warming trend. Highs on Monday will be in the low to mid-60’s with mostly sunny skies.
Tuesday and into Wednesday another storm system has the potential to impact the Front Range although right now it isn’t looking to be as significant we the one yesterday. Tuesday’s temperatures should reach the mid-50’s but there will be a slight chance for rain showers. Overnight Tuesday and lasting into Wednesday there is a chance we could see some snow again.
The latter part of the week we will be a bit cooler than normal but still should have pretty nice days on tap for Thursday and Friday.
Weather warnings in effect as of Friday morning. (NWS)
Update, 3:50pm: The snow keeps flying and the wind keeps blowing! Just about the time you think the snow is going to ease up Old Man Winter lets it fly yet again.
How cold and wet is it? It is cold and wet enough to have frozen our anemometer (wind sensor). So if you are wondering why we aren’t registering any wind, you know why! 🙂
Snow continues to fall across much of the Front Range but it is heaviest in and near the foothills. A quick sampling of storm reports shows Thornton has recorded 4.5 inches, Arvada 6.0 inches and Boulder 9.4 inches. Click here for the complete listing of snowfall reports.
We are looking for the snow to gradually decrease from north to south. However, until it does this evening we will see periods of moderate to heavy snowfall. Total accumulations by the time the storm ends around midnight will range from a few inches out by DIA to 5 to 10 inches closer to town and 7 to 14 inches near the foothills.
The winds are picking up a bit this afternoon as well and that is creating blowing and drifting snow. Visibility may be limited on the roadways so please use caution. Most main roadways continue to be everything from wet to slushy but periods of heavy snow coupled with wind may cause conditions to deteriorate.
The Winter Storm Warning will continue to be in effect until midnight tonight. Remember that a Winter Storm Warning means hazardous winter weather conditions are imminent or highly likely. Significant snow accumulations are occurring or expected. This will make travel very hazardous.
