The Official Colorado Front Range Weather Thread (Denver, Highlands Ranch: tornadoes, work)

[hello-world]

Originally Posted by LoveBoating

Don't TOTALLY believe everything this is written in the Forum. We have lived in Englewood, CO (2 years) and Parker (3 1/2) and the winters aren't necessarily this "nice" or "mild". I've said this many, many times in this Forum: We have photos and video of a somewhat different type of winter weather than is written below. But, believe what you want, Denver and the metro area does have a winter and you just don't know when that major snowstorm or blizzard will hit.

winter:
- sunny most days, with a snow storm maybe once a month. inches rather than feet is typical. the snow melts quickly (days), usually. on occasion, you will see snow early or late in the year, which disappears very quickly often times

you can look up the weather data for denver and boulder. it will indicate that there are, indeed, some snow storms, some quite impressive, most less impressive. it is not a secret that, ON AVERAGE, there are more than 300 days per year with at least some sunshine, and that sunshine is, as a fact, more intense at altitude (i.e., a mile above sea level) due to less air, making it feel milder than an equivalent day otherwise at sealevel, and making snow disappear rather quickly usually. hence, boulder/denver winters are pretty mild (and certainly pretty mild feeling - considering the intensity of the sunshine and relative lack of air in the vicinity - relative to what many people tend to expect) relative to many other places at a similar latitude, and certainly relative to many other places. yes, there's some snow. no, it's not "the snow belt" like much of the upper midwest, great lakes, etc. are. the fact is, it's relatively arid "high desert" and prairie, basically.

[sberdrow]

Originally Posted by hello-world

you can look up the weather data for denver and boulder. it will indicate that there are, indeed, some snow storms, some quite impressive, most less impressive. it is not a secret that, ON AVERAGE, there are more than 300 days per year with at least some sunshine, and that sunshine is, as a fact, more intense at altitude (i.e., a mile above sea level) due to less air, making it feel milder than an equivalent day otherwise at sealevel, and making snow disappear rather quickly usually. hence, boulder/denver winters are pretty mild (and certainly pretty mild feeling - considering the intensity of the sunshine and relative lack of air in the vicinity - relative to what many people tend to expect) relative to many other places at a similar latitude, and certainly relative to many other places. yes, there's some snow. no, it's not "the snow belt" like much of the upper midwest, great lakes, etc. are. the fact is, it's relatively arid "high desert" and prairie, basically.

Question, and maybe this is a dumb one. If snow melts faster at high altitudes then why does the snow on the Mountains usually last so long, and what about glaceirs?

[gpraceman]

Originally Posted by sberdrow

Question, and maybe this is a dumb one. If snow melts faster at high altitudes then why does the snow on the Mountains usually last so long, and what about glaceirs?

Volume and temperature. The mountains get far more snow than the plains and temps are cooler.

[hello-world]

Originally Posted by sberdrow

Question, and maybe this is a dumb one. If snow melts faster at high altitudes then why does the snow on the Mountains usually last so long, and what about glaceirs?

all else equal, snow will melt faster in the mountains as the "sunshine" is more intense there (less is scattered elsewhere or away from the earth at that point, vertically) and the air less moist (so more ready to take on subliming - "evaporating" - snow). i.e., less air to filter the sun's incoming radiant energy, and less moisture to impede "evaporation" (sublimation if from solid to gas). but, the mountains also tend to be significantly colder (ambient air temperature), hence "snow caps". if it is "30F" at cumberland gap in MD, and "30F" in denver, and you have meter by meter patch of snow with a little exposed grass or a stick on top of the snow or something in each case, the grass or stick will get warmer (more sunshine absorbed by stick or grass, rather than any junk etc in the thinner atmosphere), thus more effectively melting the snow, in denver. snow is not 100% reflective of energy, either, so there is a direct effect without the grass or stick, of course, though a little dust or pine needles or exposed ground will VERY effectively melt the snow. also, less air can mean less effective removal of heat from surfaces - all else equal.

there is also the quantity possibility mentioned in the previous post. mountains can act to "wring out" the atmosphere, resulting in snowfall, e.g..

[JohnVosilla]

Originally Posted by LoveBoating

Don't TOTALLY believe everything this is written in the Forum. We have lived in Englewood, CO (2 years) and Parker (3 1/2) and the winters aren't necessarily this "nice" or "mild". I've said this many, many times in this Forum: We have photos and video of a somewhat different type of winter weather than is written below. But, believe what you want, Denver and the metro area does have a winter and you just don't know when that major snowstorm or blizzard will hit.

winter:
- sunny most days, with a snow storm maybe once a month. inches rather than feet is typical. the snow melts quickly (days), usually. on occasion, you will see snow early or late in the year, which disappears very quickly often times

It's just like those down here in SoFlorida where I live saying 'cool' ocean breezes (average water temp over 80) make our hot humid eight months of summer tolerable. Folks come here and eventually are indoors 24/7 in the A/C to escape the relentless heat with lows not dropping below even 70 until late October.... This sounds like the ideal weather the original poster from Indiana might be looking for..

To me a high temperature above 60 and a low below 60 with abundant sunshine and low humidity is an ideal climate without prolonged periods of heat/humidity or very cold/ cloudy .. Denver seems about as close as you are going to get for that outside of coastal California if you want a decent sized city. Areas at 3-5k feet above sea level in the Southwest would have a good chance of fitting into that basic perameter like an Albuquerque or Sedona..

[GhostPoet]

The tornadoes that occur in Colorado FREAK. ME. OUT.

[Katiana]

Originally Posted by GhostPoet

The tornadoes that occur in Colorado FREAK. ME. OUT.

As tornadoes go, they are not severe, like those in the midwest.

[tfox]

Originally Posted by GhostPoet

The tornadoes that occur in Colorado FREAK. ME. OUT.

Which tornado freaks you out? You mean the one last year in Holly?

[gpraceman]

Originally Posted by GhostPoet

The tornadoes that occur in Colorado FREAK. ME. OUT.

So, tornadoes in other states don't?

You will find that the frequency of tornadoes around the metro area is quite small and they are not very strong. The further out into the eastern plains you get, the frequency does go up some. Still, it's no tornado alley!

[gpraceman]

Looking at GhostPoet's other posts, seems he/she has more than a bit of paranoia about tornadoes.

Honestly, there are other things I would be more worried about than the chance of getting hit with a tornado. So,

From one website, regarding outdoor fears:

The Scenario: Being struck by lightning
The Odds: 1 in 240,000

The Scenario: Dying in a tornado
The Odds: 1 in 5 million

The Scenario: Dying from a bee, hornet, or wasp sting
The Odds: 1 in 5.33 million

The Scenario: Being attacked by a shark
The Odds: 1 in 11.5 million

The Scenario: Being attacked by a bear
The Odds: 1 in 36 million

The Scenario: Being bitten by a venomous snake
The Odds: 1 in 37,250