Winter weather, 2010-2011. (Denver, Pueblo, Limon: condo, school, dangerous)

[jim9251]

It's up to zero this morning, clear sky after 3" of snow last night from 4:30pm to 10pm (.16" liquid). Ouray got almost 12" of snow.

[cl723]

Jazz, people just get tired of you going on and on...

....it`s not all gloom and doom. Maybe from your perspective but not everyone elses.

[DOUBLE H]

Thought I'd get this noted as I was kind of outrunning the clouds!

Big changes for weather this week! Big system coming down the pike, on NBC National News they were saying this going to impact at least 30 states. Cold air from the North and moisture from the Pacific are gonna hit the Grand Junction area tomorrow and this one is gonna be frigid. Not really a huge snow maker, but temps statewide will hit zero for a few days. 3 to 5 inches on the front range, a little more in the mountains.

Cold, cold, cold! But hey, it's still January!

[lalahartma]

I know, I'm headed towards Taos today and am a bit bummed.

[CosmicWizard]

HH....The coldest February temperature during my five winters in Grand Junction was 4 degrees on Feb 2nd, 2007. During those 5 winters, there have been only 7 single digit lows in the month of February, so chances seem good that this cold snap will be of short duration.

[Katarina Witt]

Originally Posted by CosmicWizard

Hey cl723

At least Grand Junction has been slightly warmer in the day time than Duluth Minnesota, but less than a degree warmer overnite for the first 9 days of 2011. We almost broke thru the freezing mark yesterday! It's so nice living in a banana belt instead of a cold place like Duluth!

LOL! My daughter is dating a guy from Duluth. He said that there was a 70 degree difference between our high (metro Denver) and Duluth's low recently.

**************************************************

The temperature has dropped 3 degrees (from 19 to 16) since 7:15 AM here in Louisville and the freezing rain has finally turned to snow, thank goodness! It was too slippery for my friend and I to go walking this morning. My neighbor said his dog was slipping on the ice.

[jazzlover]

Originally Posted by CosmicWizard

HH....The coldest February temperature during my five winters in Grand Junction was 4 degrees on Feb 2nd, 2007. During those 5 winters, there have been only 7 single digit lows in the month of February, so chances seem good that this cold snap will be of short duration.

Just remember, the coldest temperatures ever recorded in Colorado have generally occurred during the first 2 weeks of February. I can remember a number of those events in my own lifetime. One particularly nasty one was the "Arctic Blast" in February 1989. I had to travel to Denver from the Western Slope when that "little event" happened. Miserable roads all the way in heavy snow (I had business in Gunnison that morning so drove via US50 going over to Denver). As I drove from Salida, over Monarch, through South Park and in to Denver, I would drive in and out of the Arctic air. The temperature would be 32° one place, and 5 miles later it would be -15°, then back to freezing a few miles later, then in the deep freeze a few miles after that. What normally was about a 5 hour trip took nearly 12 hours. When I went to bed at the motel in Denver, the temperature was about 20° with light snow falling. When I got up the next morning (with the motel's heater struggling to maintain 50° in the room), it was snowing to beat hell and the temperature was -25° (yes, 25 below). I canceled my business in Denver and decided to leave right then for home. I got as far as Rifle before a blinding blizzard and literally hundreds of jackknifed semis, car accidents, and cars in the ditch closed I-70 from Glenwood Springs all the way to Grand Junction. I got the last motel room in Rifle. Hundreds of people had to sleep in their cars in Rifle that night, with a bunch more people sleeping on the floor of the CDOT maintenance garage in DeBeque. When they finally got I-70 open the next day (only to 4WD's for quite awhile), the road from Rifle to Palisade looked like an automotive wrecking yard. So much for "mild" February weather.

I really do caution people about assuming that the relatively benign winters that we have enjoyed for the most part for the past few years in Colorado mean that savage winter weather--and entire winter seasons--can not occur. The last few winters in Colorado, as a climatologist friend of mine likes to say, have been "abnormally normal."

[DOUBLE H]

I remember that snowstorm well, that was the last year I worked at the Ft. St. Vrain Plant. It snowed nearly two feet at the plant, thankfully I was driving the '77 Dodge Powerwagon instead of the Izuzu I-Mark diesel. Yea, that storm was pretty nasty all right. Twenty to twenty five mile an hour winds too. Sheesh!

[CosmicWizard]

jazzlover wrote:

Just remember, the coldest temperatures ever recorded in Colorado have generally occurred during the first 2 weeks of February. I can remember a number of those events in my own lifetime. One particularly nasty one was the "Arctic Blast" in February 1989.

The coldest temp ( -23 ) officially recorded in Grand Junction occurred on Jan-13th ( I don't have the year recorded in my database ). The coldest official Feb temp in GJ was -21 recorded on Feb-8th.

I spent the Arctic blast of Feb '89 in southeastern PA. I recall that it was an extremely cold winter, but I don't remember the actual temperatures. Just for the record, I'm very aware that my 5 winters in Colorado are very slim pickins on which to base any future winter weather trends for more than 5 minutes beyond the current moment. I could very well eat my words about the cold spell being of short duration. We'll see!

[Josseppie]

This is a great storm. Here are some pictures I took and will post more later.

First this is from the NWS in Pueblo.

WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 11 AM MST TUESDAY

WIND CHILL WARNING NOW IN EFFECT FROM 6 PM THIS EVENING TO 8 AM MST WEDNESDAY...

THE WIND CHILL WARNING IS NOW IN EFFECT FROM 6 PM THIS EVENING TO 8 AM MST WEDNESDAY. A WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 11 AM MST TUESDAY.

* THE I-25 CORRIDOR FROM THE NEW MEXICO BORDER TO NORTHERN EL PASO COUNTY. THIS INCLUDES BUT IS NOT LIMITED TO...COLORADO SPRINGS...PUEBLO...WALSENBURG AND TRINIDAD.

* CAUSE AND TIMING...A WINTER STORM SYSTEM HAS SENT AN ARCTIC AIR MASS INTO THE REGION SPREADING SNOW AND BITTERLY COLD TEMPERATURES INTO THE AREA.

* SNOW ACCUMULATION...LOCATIONS ALONG AND WEST OF INTERSTATE 25 WILL SEE 3 TO 7 INCHES...WHILE LOCATIONS EAST OF INTERSTATE 25...INCLUDING SOUTHERN EL PASO AND NORTHERN PUEBLO COUNTIES... WILL SEE SNOWFALL AMOUNTS OF 2 TO 5 INCHES. THE HEAVIEST SNOW IS EXPECTED TO FALL THIS EVENING AND TONIGHT.

* WIND...NORTH TO NORTHEAST AT 15 TO 20 MPH WILL OCCUR TONIGHT WITH WINDS INCREASING TOMORROW TO 15 TO 25 MPH WITH GUSTS TO 35 MPH.

* TEMPERATURES...LOWS TONIGHT WILL BE IN THE ZERO TO NEGATIVE 5 RANGE. HIGHS TOMORROW WILL ONLY BE AROUND ZERO.

* WIND CHILLS...WIND CHILL VALUES TONIGHT WILL RANGE BETWEEN 10 AND 20 DEGREES BELOW ZERO. WIND CHILL READING TOMORROW WILL BE 20 TO 30 DEGREES BELOW ZERO.

Now my pictures of the early part of the snow storm: