The Official Colorado Front Range Weather Thread (Denver, Loveland: housing, rent)

[Katiana]

If I did my math correctly, last year's July high was 89.7. Close to 90, but no cigar. Statistics from the Broomfield weather station. It is my opinion that you can pretty much count on July to be hot, but there will be the occasional day with a high of 70. As NickMan7 states, mid-June to mid-August. By mid-August, the nights start getting cooler, anyway.

[LBear]

The other thing I noticed is that the rain & snow is usually heavier from the foothills east until around I-25, then it starts to taper off the further east you go. Usually dying out around Brighton/Hudson. They then start to build up again as they continue east of there.

It is as if the storms are strong once they roll off the rockies and the lose their power as they go further east. Then once they get east of Fort Morgan (N-S dividing line), they start to intensify as they roll along the plains, until the hit the Kansas border where all hell can break loose.

STATS PER WEATHER.COM
On average, Boulder, CO is wetter than Hudson, CO by 5.6in.

On average, Denver, CO is wetter than Hudson, CO by 3.8in.

I might be on to something. It appears from the stats that the further east you go from the mountains, the drier it gets.

[azcater]

Thanks Nickman and pittnurse,

That sounds perfectly reasonable and heavenly compared to Phoenix! I can handle hot, I just can't handle burn your face off hot! LOL! Or if you touch your car, you get a 3rd degree burn hot! Ok, I'm kidding but you get my drift!

[NickMan7]

Fortunately you will not have to deal with that! The summers here are fantastic!

[tfox]

Originally Posted by Pettrix

The other thing I noticed is that the rain & snow is usually heavier from the foothills east until around I-25, then it starts to taper off the further east you go. Usually dying out around Brighton/Hudson. They then start to build up again as they continue east of there.

It is as if the storms are strong once they roll off the rockies and the lose their power as they go further east. Then once they get east of Fort Morgan (N-S dividing line), they start to intensify as they roll along the plains, until the hit the Kansas border where all hell can break loose.

STATS PER WEATHER.COM
On average, Boulder, CO is wetter than Hudson, CO by 5.6in.

On average, Denver, CO is wetter than Hudson, CO by 3.8in.

I might be on to something. It appears from the stats that the further east you go from the mountains, the drier it gets.

That can be true in an upslope storm -- in that case, the foothills will get more snow than anywhere in the state, with the eastern plains sometimes getting less. The holiday 2006 blizzard was upslope, although the eastern plains were hit hard by that one as well.

However, in a east-moving (downslope) storms, the opposite is true. The mountains form something of a "rain shadow" that tends to mean less snow in the foothills and Denver. This rain shadow effect tends to peter out as you go further east beyond the Platte River Valley, and the higher elevation ridges east of Denver can get socked with snow in such storms. This is why you'll often hear of I-70 east to Kansas closed due to snow when there isn't any snow in Denver.

[LoveBoating]

Yes, the summers can be GREAT! When we lived in Parker, we had some fantastic weekend summers mornings when we took our boat out to Chatfield Reservoir for some boating/fishing fun.
But, those winters there can be nasty at times. We were there for that blizzard in Spring of 2002 and the Holiday Blizzard in 2006. We are an older couple (58/60) with no kids, don't play in the snow or snow ski, so, we had to move to an even "milder" winter area......North Carolina and (perhaps) later down to Florida.
Anyone who loves winter sports or "snow fun" would absolutely love living on the Eastern Slope.

Originally Posted by NickMan7

Fortunately you will not have to deal with that! The summers here are fantastic!

[LBear]

TFOX: It happened today!

It was clear and dry coming from east of I-76 near DIA. As I went westbound the snow started. Near Brighton the snow got heavier and then further west it got really heavy.

I would assume that a east-moving (downslope) storms are a lot more rare due to the jet stream, correct?

[sberdrow]

all I know is I want out of here, Colorado is a nice place for the most part, just not for me. The cold is keeping my home from being looked at here in Loveland, and I have it 30K below market. No one wants to take a look in this freeze I guess.

[jazzlover]

Originally Posted by Pettrix

Happened today!

It was clear and dry coming from east of I-76 near DIA. As I went westbound the snow started. Near Brighton the snow got heavier and then further west it got really heavy.

I would assume that a east-moving (downslope) storms are a lot more rare due to the jet stream, correct?

Most winter storms enter Colorado from the west, due to the predominantly west to east jetstream. That is why the western slope mountains get more snow than the Eastern Slope in the winter. The mountains lift and strip the moisture out of the clouds. What is left is the warming and dry westerly Chinook winds that buffet the foothills. If the storm's low pressure system gets east and south of the Front Range where the winds can curl around and come from the south and east (and maybe tap some Gulf of Mexico moisture) then the Front Range gets upslope snow. A cold front from the north will sometimes come out of the northeast, which will cause some upslope snow, too, but usually their moisture is very limited, so a light dusting is about all that can be expected. When things get exciting is when a large low pressure system moves in from southwest with a lot of moisture and collides with a cold front from the north over the Front Range. That's when the Front Range can get a major snow and blizzard event. March is often the preferred month for that to happen.

[hello-world]

Originally Posted by jazzlover

Most winter storms enter Colorado from the west, due to the predominantly west to east jetstream. That is why the western slope mountains get more snow than the Eastern Slope in the winter. The mountains lift and strip the moisture out of the clouds. What is left is the warming and dry westerly Chinook winds that buffet the foothills. If the storm's low pressure system gets east and south of the Front Range where the winds can curl around and come from the south and east (and maybe tap some Gulf of Mexico moisture) then the Front Range gets upslope snow. A cold front from the north will sometimes come out of the northeast, which will cause some upslope snow, too, but usually their moisture is very limited, so a light dusting is about all that can be expected. When things get exciting is when a large low pressure system moves in from southwest with a lot of moisture and collides with a cold front from the north over the Front Range. That's when the Front Range can get a major snow and blizzard event. March is often the preferred month for that to happen.

and there can be some tendency of lee side cyclones (typical leeward of mountain ranges - the "denver low" for example - as a sort of conservation of angular momentum as air is compressed and redirected into new coriolis zones as it crosses big ranges) and some sort of "hydraulic jump" activity east of the divide that can contribute to some of the winter time activity (and some of the "upslopes" mentioned above) as well as some of the summer time thunderstorms and tornados).