An arguably botched call by replacement referees during Monday night’s football game between the Green Bay Packers and Seattle Seahawks is now being parodied by a Titletown television station. The ‘replacement weather guy’ made an appearance during NBC26’s Tuesday morning news taking a jab at the NFL. Read the rest of this story on Examiner.com and watch the hilarious video.
In an effort to keep up with new technology and improve warnings to residents, the city of Denver began a much-needed upgrade of its outdoor warning sirens yesterday. The system will feature improved reliability and the ability to target warnings. Read about Denver’s new system on Examiner.com.
What about Thornton? The city that was the site of the most destructive tornado ever in the Denver metro area doesn’t have sirens. The city did however implement an email warning system this past spring – click here to read more.
While the start of 2012 saw a number of deadly tornado outbreaks that seemed to portend a disastrous year to come, the number of tornadoes recorded since then has fallen to record low levels. Data from the Storm Prediction Center today shows the tornado count for the year is 400 twisters below average. Read the rest of this story on Examiner.com
While typically the last week of September is calm, that isn’t always the case. In our look back at this week in Denver weather history we see damaging wind, dangerous lightning and September’s biggest snowfall on record in the Mile High City.
From the National Weather Service:
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In 1873…north to northwest winds blowing almost a gale spread clouds of dust and sand into the city during the afternoon and evening. From the roof of the weather observer’s building…houses a few hundred yards away were not visible and not even the sky could be seen through the clouds of sand. The wind reached sustained speeds of 35 mph…but only 28 mph was registered for any one hour.
In 1977…wind gusts from 50 to 80 mph were reported along the foothills. A northwest wind gust to 53 mph was recorded at Stapleton International Airport.
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In 2000…the first snowstorm of the season brought heavy snow to areas in and near the foothills. While the heaviest snow fell north of metro Denver…6 inches were measured in Boulder…4 inches at both Castle Rock and Morrison…but only 0.2 inch at the site of the former Stapleton International Airport where most of the precipitation fell as rain. At Denver International Airport where drizzle and rain fell on the 23rd… Snowfall during the early morning of the 24th was estimated at 2.1 inches due to melting. The foothills west of Denver received more snow with 10 inches measured at conifer…9 inches 11 miles southwest of Morrison… 8 inches atop Crow Hill…7 inches at Chief Hosa…and 5 inches at Ralston Reservoir.
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In 1901…northwest winds were sustained to 50 mph with gusts as high as 57 mph in the city.
In 1932…thunderstorm rainfall of only 0.11 inch was the only measurable precipitation for the month that year in the city.
In 1986…a very strong wind storm roared across metro Denver. Boulder was hit hardest. Winds peaked to 131 mph at the National Center for Atmospheric Research. This is thought to be the highest wind gust ever recorded in Boulder during September. A wind gust to 118 mph was clocked on Davidson Mesa and to 92 mph near Niwot. Gusts of 70 to 80 mph were common over all of Boulder where an estimated 70 to 90 large trees were uprooted. About a dozen of them hit cars. Two walls of a building under construction were toppled and solar panels were blown off a house. Traffic lights and power lines were downed. Damage to power equipment alone was estimated at 100 thousand dollars. Wind gusts to 87 mph at Jefferson County Airport damaged two planes. A woman was seriously injured in Boulder. She suffered a fractured skull when struck by a falling tree limb. Trees were also downed in Louisville and Lafayette. West wind gusts to 45 mph were recorded at Stapleton International Airport.
Continue reading September 23 to September 29 – This Week in Denver Weather History
With an unusually warm summer and very dry conditions Mother Nature has moved up the timetable to view Colorado’s natural autumn gold. This weekend will be the prime time to take a drive to view the changing foliage in the high country. Find out some of the best places in the mountains to view the changing leaves.
Providing a voice of reason to the sometimes hysterical ravings of climate change alarmists, the scientific journal Nature cautions today that connecting global warming to disasters is not so easy. The jury is in fact still out on whether extreme weather events can be attributed to anthropogenic global warming, despite what some may say. As Nature points out, there is no empirical evidence that stands up to scrutiny and claims to the contrary only look foolish. Read the rest of this story on Examiner.com.
Scientists announced yesterday that Arctic sea ice had completed its summer melt and in the end reached the lowest extent since satellite measurements began. At the other end of the globe Antarctica was seeing the exact opposite as the ice at the South Pole grows to record levels. Read the rest of this story on Examiner.com. Be sure to check out the video of the early August storm that tore the Arctic ice to shreds.
Prince William and Kate Middleton continued a tour of the Pacific with a visit to the tiny island nation of Tuvalu yesterday. For more than a decade the so-called ‘sinking island’ has been held up as an example of the dangers of manmade climate change yet the duke and duchess cannot see the effects because there are none. Read the rest of this story on Examiner.com
The European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT) launched its latest polar orbiting satellite yesterday from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The Metop-B spacecraft carries with it a host of instruments that will help feed models that forecast the weather and climate. Read the rest of this story on Examiner.com and find out what it means for you.
While North America has dealt with a deadly and devastating wildfire season, Australia as well has seen many bushfires rage across its wild lands. One fire in recent days burning near Alice Springs spawned a rare fire tornado that whirled through the Outback for 40 minutes. Read the rest of this story on Examiner.com and check out the amazing video.
