The snow has moved out and the sun will be shining soon as residents begin digging out from a record-setting snowstorm. Here is Thornton we recorded 13.8″ of snowfall and that was actually one of the lower totals across northeastern Colorado. It was however Thornton’s biggest snowstorm since October 2009 when we recorded 14.1″ from a late month event.
Snow began falling Thursday evening and continued through the night, all through the day Friday and into Saturday morning. By this morning most of the metro area was only seeing a few flakes falling and by the end of the day the sun will return.
Below is a time lapse video from our east facing webcam. It covers from 4:00pm on Thursday, February 2 to 6:00am on Saturday, February 4 compressing that period into a little more than one minute.
February roared in like a lion delivering a wallop of heavy snow and blizzard conditions across northeastern Colorado. The storm brought nearly continuous snow for well over 24 hours and broke the Mile High City's record…
The biggest snowstorm in years is pounding the Mile High City with heavy snow while blizzard conditions exist further to the east. Snow totals continue to climb, most schools are closed, and residents are hunkering down and endure Mother…
Residents across northeastern Colorado are waking up to a winter wonderland as February roars in like a lion. As roads have become treacherous and accidents start to become more frequent, many area schools and businesses have announced they…
February in the Mile High City brings a month of transition in the weather. It marks the end of the dry, winter months and we begin to feel a hint of the spring to come with longer days…
To say Colorado’s weather can be extreme would be an understatement as every year the state experiences property damage, injuries and fatalities at the hands of Mother Nature. The loss of life and property can oftentimes…
Armed with the backing of three prominent climate scientists, radio talk show host Phil Valentine has released "An Inconsistent Truth." The movie seeks to provide a humorous but thought-provoking counterpoint to global warming alarmism…
January 29 to February 4 - This Week in Denver Weather History
You just never know what you are going to get with the weather in Denver and we see that in our look back at the Denver weather history books. From cold and snow to damaging winds and spring-like temperatures, we can and do see it all.
From the National Weather Service:
26-1
In 1888…a protracted warm spell lasted a week. Maximum temperatures ranged from 62 degrees on the 29th to an all time record high for the month of 76 degrees on the 27th. Daily record high temperatures of 76…69…and 71 occurred on the 27th…28th…and 30th respectively. Record high minimum temperatures of 47 and 34 occurred on the 26th and 27th.
27-31
In 1951…a major storm dumped 10.1 inches of snowfall at Stapleton Airport. Most of the snow…8.3 inches…fell on the 29th. Cold arctic air accompanied the snow. Several temperature records were set…including record low maximum temperatures of 4 on the 28th and 4 below zero on the 29th and record low temperatures of 12 below zero on the 29th and 24 below zero on the 31st. Temperatures were below zero for 45 consecutive hours.
28-29
In 1956…snowfall totaled 5.5 inches at Stapleton Airport where east winds gusted to 32 mph on the 28th.
In 1972…cold west winds buffeted Boulder. A wind gust to 92 mph was recorded at the National Bureau of Standards…while a gust to 76 mph was measured in downtown Boulder. Two mobile homes were overturned in Boulder. Other damage was minor. Northwest winds gusted to 40 mph at Stapleton International Airport on the 28th.
In 1987…strong winds buffeted the Front Range foothills and spread east over the plains. The highest wind recorded was 99 mph on the 29th at both the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder and the Rocky Flats plant south of Boulder. Wind gusts in excess of 80 mph were common. A northwest wind gust to 54 mph was recorded at Stapleton International Airport on the 28th with a gust to 41 mph on the 29th. Planes were damaged at both the Boulder and Jefferson County Airports. Hangars were also damaged at Jefferson County Airport. Many windows were broken…signs toppled…and trees downed. A brick wall was blown onto parked cars in Lakewood. A couple of houses in Lakewood were unroofed…while falling trees damaged others. Two people were injured by flying debris in Lakewood and Golden. Total insured damage along the Front Range was 10 million dollars making the wind storm the second most costly on record in Colorado at the time.
In 1995…deepening upslope winds along the eastern foothills on the 28th gave way to periods of heavy snow during the night and early morning hours of the 29th. Snow fell to a depth of 8 inches in both Golden and Boulder with up to a foot in the foothills. Only 1.9 inches of snow fell at Stapleton International Airport…where east winds gusted to 22 mph on the 28th.
In 2001…heavy snow fell across metro Denver. The heaviest snowfall occurred from just south of Denver to around Castle Rock. Snow amounts included: 12 inches east of Parker…9 inches near Elizabeth and in Littleton…8 inches near Castle Rock and in Parker…and 7 inches in Aurora. Snowfall totaled 6.0 inches at the site of the former Stapleton International Airport.
28-30
In 1887…winds were strong and gusty for three days in the city. West and northwest winds were sustained to 56 mph on both the 28th and 29th and to 44 mph on the 30th. Temperatures warmed to a high of 57 degrees on the 29th.
29
In 1900…northwest winds were sustained to 45 mph with an extreme velocity of 46 mph.
In 1914…this was the last day of 60 consecutive days with snow cover of one inch or more in Denver. This third longest period of snow cover on record began with the record breaking snow and blizzard on December 1-5… 1913 when a total of 45.7 inches of snow fell in downtown Denver. Additional snowfall during December and January prolonged the event. Snow depth on the ground to the nearest tenth of an inch was measured once daily at 6:00 pm MST.
In 1927…west winds were sustained at 40 mph with gusts to 42 mph.
In 1942…heavy snowfall totaled 6.2 inches in downtown Denver. North winds were sustained to 17 mph.
In 1965…strong winds occurred in Boulder for the third consecutive day. Only limited minor damage was reported. Northwest winds gusted to 40 mph at Stapleton International Airport.
In 1984…highs winds in and near the foothills produced wind gusts as high as 71 mph in Boulder. A plane was flipped over at Jefferson County Airport and damaged beyond repair. In Lakewood…two construction trailers were damaged by the gusts. North winds gusted to only 38 mph at Stapleton International Airport.
In 1990…gale to hurricane force winds gusts raked the foothills. Wind gusts of 50 to 90 mph were common in Boulder County. A peak wind of 94 mph was clocked at Table Mesa in southwest Boulder. Scattered power outages and minor property damage were reported. West winds gusted to 46 mph at Stapleton International Airport.
Following on an extraordinarily deadly year of natural disasters in 2011, Google has launched a new online service to speed the dissemination of weather and disaster related warnings. Google Public Alerts is a new service from the Google Crisis…
When NASA launched the National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System Preparatory Project, or NPP, in October, it ushered in a new generation of climate and weather satellites. The school bus size spacecraft is now securely in polar orbit making 14 passes over the Earth each day.
The five main instruments are critical to enhancing not only short term weather forecasting but also in aiding long term climate modeling. NASA has performing an initial checkout of the craft and its instruments, a process which will take several more weeks before it begins its regular science mission.
This week NASA released an astounding ‘blue marble’ image captured by its Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS). The image is a composite from multiple orbits of the spacecraft on January 4, 2012 showing much of North and Central America.
"This awe-inspiring image, released today by NASA, was taken by the the VIIRS instrument aboard NPP, the nation's newest polar-orbiting environmental satellite that was launched Oct. 28, 2011 (http://www.nesdis.noaa.gov/npp_launch.html). Renamed "Suomi NPP" in honor of the the late Verner E. Suomi of the University of Wisconsin (http://j.mp/Ahfvt9), the satellite will enable NOAA to continue issuing accurate forecasts and provide advanced warnings for severe weather, such as deadly tornado outbreaks, blistering heat waves, floods, snowfall and wildfires. This composite NASA image uses a number of swaths of the Earth's surface taken on January 4, 2012." (NASA)
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