Rains from Tropical Storm Isaac have been lashing Puerto Rico and forecasters are expecting the storm to become a hurricane before hitting Hispaniola. Trailing Isaac is another storm system that has just been named Tropical Storm Joyce. Read the rest of this story on Examiner.com including the latest satellite imagery and forecast tracks.
Colorado’s central mountains experienced an earthquake Tuesday afternoon that rattled towns in the area. According to the US Geological Survey (USGS) the magnitude 3.3 temblor occurred at 3:21pm MDT. The epicenter was in Eagle County 10 miles north of Basalt or 16 miles east of Glenwood Springs. It occurred at a shallow depth of 3.1 miles. Read the rest of this story on Examiner.com including details on Colorado’s ‘shaky’ past.
The eighth typhoon of the year has developed extremely rapidly and while passing offshore brought landslides and flooding to the Philippines. Typhoon Tembin now appears intent on heading toward Taiwan while yet another typhoon, Bolaven, looks to do the same soon after. Read the rest of this story on Examiner.com with satellite imagery and forecast tracks for these two major storms.
The devastating 2012 wildfire season continues to expand and shift west as fires rage out of control in the northwestern United States. In northern California tinder dry conditions have allowed fires to grow quickly and prompted thousands to evacuate in recent days. Read the rest of this story on Examiner.com including photos and satellite imagery.
During Sunday night’s 10:00pm newscast CBS4 meteorologist Dave Aguilera talked about one particularly notable historical weather-related event: massive swarms of grasshoppers over the Mile High City this week in Denver weather history. The graphic Aguilera displayed during the broadcast had details on the event with a credit to ThorntonWeather.com as the event was one of many in the This Week in Denver Weather History series that we post every week.
This isn’t the first time ThorntonWeather.com has been in the news. As the most popular local personal weather station website in the Denver metro area, we have also been featured in the Denver Post’s YourHub, the Northglenn-Thornton Sentinel and Thornton’s community access station.
It was pretty neat to see us get credit and we thank Dave for the credit – it is much appreciated. Dave, if you ever want to do a story on personal weather station websites and owners, let us know! 😉
Funnel clouds, tornadoes, deadly flooding and more highlight our look back at this week in Denver weather history.
From the National Weather Service:
16-19
In 1979…heavy thunderstorm rains on each of 4 consecutive days dumped a total of 2.62 inches of rain on Stapleton International Airport. The heaviest rain…1.05 inches… On the 19th was accompanied by 1/4 inch diameter hail.
18-19
In 1875…nearly 0.75 inch of rainfall in the city overnight… Possibly assisted by heavier rainfall upstream…produced a decided and rapid rise in Cherry Creek…which washed out some bridges. Other small creeks and streams were filled to overflowing.
19
In 1983…heavy rain fell across the northern metro Denver suburbs with 1.50 to 1.80 inches of rain in Broomfield… Arvada…and Thornton.
In 1989…lightning killed a 31-year-old man and injured his 10 year old nephew when it hit a tree they were walking under in the foothills about 5 miles west of Boulder. The boy received mouth to mouth resuscitation on the scene and recovered after being hospitalized overnight. Three other people were knocked to the ground by the bolt…but were uninjured.
In 1990…3/4 inch diameter hail was reported in Wheat Ridge. A thunderstorm over west Denver dumped an inch of rain in 20 minutes…causing minor street flooding. One inch diameter hail was reported over east Denver. Ping pong to golf ball size hail was reported 14 miles northeast of Denver at the intersection of 122nd Ave. and Brighton Blvd. The hail stones knocked out windows and did an unspecified amount of damage to the roof of a house. Close by…heavy thunderstorm rains caused gullies…irrigation ditches…and small streams to overflow their banks near the intersection of 120th Avenue and Riverdale Road. Flood waters 1 to 2 feet deep covered the river bottom land along the South Platte River. However…no structures were threatened by the flood waters.
In 1999…heavy rain…up to 5 inches in two hours…caused east tollgate creek to jump its banks. The bike path adjacent to the creek was underwater at several locations. Several underpasses were also flooded…halting traffic. In addition…an unfinished playground at a local elementary school was completely flooded. Lightning struck a vehicle at east Evans Avenue and Tower Road. The woman inside the vehicle was not injured.
19-30
In 1875…grasshoppers appeared in great numbers at 10:00 am on the 19th. Thousands landed on the ground. The streets were literally covered with them. Swarms of grasshoppers were seen on each day. All gardens in the city were devastated…and in the countryside the grasshoppers were very destructive to ripened grain. On the 30th the grasshoppers were so numerous as to almost darken the sun.
Continue reading August 19 to August 25 – This Week in Denver Weather History
A solicitation on a United States government website seeking hollow point bullets and targets for the National Weather Service caused an online stir today. NOAA was forced to quickly deal with the controversy saying it was a ‘clerical error.’ Read the rest of this story on Examiner.com
While on a routine patrol late last week a New Zealand Defense Force patrol craft spotted a massive area of pumice floating in the South Pacific from an unknown source. Teaming up with NASA, volcanologists today pinpointed the source of a raft of debris covering thousands of square miles. Read the rest of this story on Examiner.com including satellite imagery of the undersea eruption.
Without a doubt the Mile High City – and much of the nation – has had an unusually warm summer. Records have tumbled regularly over the past couple of months and yet another is on the brink as we approach a record number of 90 degree days. Read the rest of this story on Examiner.com to find out how close to the record we are.
Denver’s weather calms considerably in August as compared to many other months but the history books show plenty of notable events in our past. Lightning, flooding rain and even a tornado highlight this week in Denver weather history.
8-13
In 1875…clouds of grasshoppers were seen flying through the air on the prevailing winds during each day.
12
In 1876…the temperature climbed to a high of 100 degrees in downtown Denver.
In 1941…excessive thunderstorm rainfall flooded streets and delayed traffic for a few hours in some sections of the city. The basements of a considerable number of homes and commercial buildings were flooded. The total value of the damage was unknown. Only 0.94 inch of thunderstorm rainfall was recorded downtown.
In 1969…a man and a 9-year old boy were injured…when lightning struck a tree near where they were standing. Both were revived after treatment…but the boy later died of respiratory failure due to electrical shock.
In 1984…heavy thunderstorm rains drenched southern metro Denver. Rural roads in Douglas County received minor washouts. Hail…as large as 3/4 inch in diameter…was reported in southeast Aurora with one inch diameter hail reported near Parker. Rainfall totaled 1.00 inch at Stapleton International Airport.
12-13 in 1975…heavy rains caused flash flooding along the foothills from Denver north. Thunderstorm rainfall totaled 1.56 inches at Stapleton International Airport.
In 2004…a brief cool spell resulted in two daily temperature records. The low temperature of 49 degrees was a record minimum for the 12th…as was the low temperature of 48 degrees on the 13th.
13
In 1959…thunderstorm winds gusted to 53 mph at Stapleton Airport.
In 1983…thunderstorms dumped torrential rain in Northglenn… Thornton…and Broomfield. Northglenn was drenched with 1.72 inches in 30 minutes. Street flooding was widespread. Hail…as large as 3/4 inch in diameter…was reported 7 miles northeast of Boulder along with heavy rain which caused some street flooding.
In 2000…lightning sparked 3 small grass fires near Golden. The fires were quickly contained. Hail as large as 3/4 inch in diameter fell in Castle Rock.
Continue reading August 12 to August 18 – This Week in Denver Weather History