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Old 11-24-2007, 04:37 PM
 
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I'm a weather lover.....the crazier the better! ( I don't enjoy harmful disasters, of course.) Do these areas get some good thunder and lightening?
~Blue Sky~
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Old 11-24-2007, 05:15 PM
 
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Yes.

We've been out on Grandby Res and had some real boomers come through the region.

Fraser gets some heavy storms through the valley, lots of lightning at times.
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Old 11-24-2007, 05:20 PM
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by sunsprit View Post
Yes.

We've been out on Grandby Res and had some real boomers come through the region.

Fraser gets some heavy storms through the valley, lots of lightning at times.
Oh fantastic! thanks
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Old 11-24-2007, 06:37 PM
 
Location: cincinnati northern, ky
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anywhere in co can get voilent lightening and wind however tornadoes west of denver at or above 7k feet are rare
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Old 11-24-2007, 10:11 PM
 
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Both thunderstorm frequency and intensity vary greatly in Colorado. The most thunderstorm-prone areas are east of the Continental Divide and from Castle Rock south over the Palmer Divide to Colorado Springs. The "hot spot" for the state is generally considered to be near Palmer Lake southward to Colorado Springs. There is a secondary maximum near Trinidad which extends southward into New Mexico east of the Sangre de Cristo mountains. This map ( http://www.crh.noaa.gov/Image/pub/lt...ountynames.gif ) found on the National Weather Service's Pueblo site shows lightning frequency for the state. As one can see, Grand County is not particularly lightning-prone. In fact, as one heads into northwest Colorado, lightning frequency decreases. The least thunderstorm-prone area is generally considered to be the floor of the San Luis Valley, though summer thunderstorms are quite common (and visible from the valley) in the surrounding mountains.

Though lightning storms are common many mountain areas of Colorado during the summer (and absolutely should be respected--Colorado has one of the highest rates of lightning fatalities in the country), it is nowhere near being the "lightning capital." That distinction belongs to Florida--and there are even numerous areas in the Midwest that have higher lightning frequencies than Colorado.

As to the severity of thunderstorms, once again the Eastern Slope from the foothills onto the plains is the area of occurrence. Most of the Front Range and eastern plains of Colorado are part of "hail alley," where severe hailstorms are fairly frequent. Just north of the state line, Cheyenne, Wyoming holds the distinction as the "Hail Capital of the U.S.," with an average of ten hailstorms per year. A major hailstorm that hit Denver in 1990 was, at the time, the second most expensive single-storm natural disaster in dollars of damage up until that time.

Tornadoes are rare from the foothills west, and relatively uncommon in the Front Range metro areas, though they do occur on occasion. They are more common on the eastern plains and have done significant damage there on occasion. Few Colorado tornadoes hit F4 or F5, though the one that hit Holly, Colorado not too long ago was likely in that range. (Holly, of course, is only a few miles from the Kansas border, and is much closer to true "tornado alley.")
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Old 11-24-2007, 10:26 PM
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jazzlover View Post
Both thunderstorm frequency and intensity vary greatly in Colorado. The most thunderstorm-prone areas are east of the Continental Divide and from Castle Rock south over the Palmer Divide to Colorado Springs. The "hot spot" for the state is generally considered to be near Palmer Lake southward to Colorado Springs. There is a secondary maximum near Trinidad which extends southward into New Mexico east of the Sangre de Cristo mountains. This map ( http://www.crh.noaa.gov/Image/pub/lt...ountynames.gif ) found on the National Weather Service's Pueblo site shows lightning frequency for the state. As one can see, Grand County is not particularly lightning-prone. In fact, as one heads into northwest Colorado, lightning frequency decreases. The least thunderstorm-prone area is generally considered to be the floor of the San Luis Valley, though summer thunderstorms are quite common (and visible from the valley) in the surrounding mountains.

Though lightning storms are common many mountain areas of Colorado during the summer (and absolutely should be respected--Colorado has one of the highest rates of lightning fatalities in the country), it is nowhere near being the "lightning capital." That distinction belongs to Florida--and there are even numerous areas in the Midwest that have higher lightning frequencies than Colorado.

As to the severity of thunderstorms, once again the Eastern Slope from the foothills onto the plains is the area of occurrence. Most of the Front Range and eastern plains of Colorado are part of "hail alley," where severe hailstorms are fairly frequent. Just north of the state line, Cheyenne, Wyoming holds the distinction as the "Hail Capital of the U.S.," with an average of ten hailstorms per year. A major hailstorm that hit Denver in 1990 was, at the time, the second most expensive single-storm natural disaster in dollars of damage up until that time.

Tornadoes are rare from the foothills west, and relatively uncommon in the Front Range metro areas, though they do occur on occasion. They are more common on the eastern plains and have done significant damage there on occasion. Few Colorado tornadoes hit F4 or F5, though the one that hit Holly, Colorado not too long ago was likely in that range. (Holly, of course, is only a few miles from the Kansas border, and is much closer to true "tornado alley.")
Thank you so much for taking the time to share this. The map really speaks for itself. I'll enjoy what little storms I can encounter in Grand Lake....the hot spots on the map may be too powerful for me!
I didn't realize that CO was part of hail alley.
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Old 11-24-2007, 10:34 PM
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ~Blue Sky~ View Post
.... I didn't realize that CO was part of hail alley.
Sure is. Had a whopper of a hail storm here in northern COL SPGS (Pine Creek and Briargate areas) on 23 Aug. Most homes are getting re-shingled, our house too. The shingles weren't blown off or leaking, but wind-driven golf-ball-sized+ hail dents them, knocks the grit off, exposing the asphalt base and in 1-2 years they will leak/fail as the sun eats away the asphalt base.

When I took the insurance check to the bank, the girl smiled and said "we've seen a LOT of these lately." Her car was totalled by the hail, every window shot out and sheet metal looked like hammered aluminum. A car up the street from us looks like a ticked off blacksmith took a ball-peen hammer to it.

s/Mike
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Old 11-24-2007, 11:00 PM
 
Location: Castle Rock, CO
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I was driving home from Steamboat Springs (to Castle Rock) this summer ... and when we approached the small town of Kremmling, we drove into a heck of thunderstorm ... and mountain downpour. The mountain weather is really crazy, IMHO. Its not necessarily long-lasting storms, but you can go from hot to cold in a hurry ... maybe even thrown in a rainbow filled snowfall coming down in the sunshine ... just a week ago. If you a weather buff, then there is something here for you ... a little of everything!

I agree with what Jazz said ... being a weather watcher and wunderground nerd myself ... I've seen so many storms developer over the palmer lake area ... it's a definate "hot spot" for weather.
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Old 11-25-2007, 11:06 AM
 
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To add a bit more: The reason that the Palmer Divide area south along the Front Range and the areas of northern New Mexico that I mentioned are so thunderstorm-prone is due to their location and geography. Two of the main components of thunderstorm development are ample atmospheric moisture and instablity. There are two main sources for summer moisture in most of the Rockies: moist air blowing up from the Gulf of Mexico in spring and early summer (caused by the expansion of the "Bermuda High" in the warmer months), and moisture moving up from early to mid-July through early to mid-September from the Gulf of California (the "Southwest Monsoon"). The areas mentioned are somewhat unique in the Rockies in that they tend to be affected by both. Most other areas of the Rockies tend to be predominantly affected by only one. The effect of both tends to weaken and be less reliable as one moves north in the Rockies. That is why that Montana, for example, gets relatively little moisture in the central and eastern part of the state after June.

The effect can also be seen in Colorado and northern New Mexico. For example, the area around Raton, New Mexico often gets nearly as much precipitation in June as it does in July and August, reaping the effects of both Gulf of Mexico and Gulf of California moisture. In contrast, Durango, Colorado, only a few hundred miles west, gets relatively little moisture at all in June, while August is the wettest month of the summer (Southwest monsoon only).

The second major component of thunderstorm development is atmospheric instability. The mountains themselves provide this. At night, cool and relatvely stable mountain air tends to drain down the valleys. Once daytime arrives, the sun begins heating the air. Hot air tends to rise. Along the Eastern Slope of the Rockies, this air tends to drift up the canyons and hills of the Eastern Slope. That flow may be particularly enhanced if moist air is moving up from the Gulf of Mexico. As the air rises, it becomes more and more unstable and moisture condenses forming clouds that eventually evolve into thunderstorms. Eventually, the prevailing westerly winds start to blow the storms eastward out of the mountains onto the Foothills and plains. Here they often gather even more moisture and may go severe. Often they will track hundred of miles to the east, eventually winding up as far east as eastern Kansas or Missouri.

What is particularly devastatiing is when a very strong easterly hot and moist component blows into the mountains and the normal westerly winds aloft can not blow the storm eastward once it forms. This type of rare storm may remain nearly stationary for hours, and with a constant moisture feed can dump inches or feet of rain in a relatively short time. It was this type of storm that caused the deadly Big Thompson flood west of Loveland in 1976.

The point is that many people have the misconception that climate in the Rockies is only affected by altitude, but that is not true at all. There are far more climate variables than that, and moisture sources--and the distance from them and their reliability--is a major one.

Wintertime moisture flows and storm devlopment are a whole 'nother topic.
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Old 11-25-2007, 12:43 PM
 
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Interesting to see all the hair-splitting about where the most severe weather may happen in Colorado with a higher frequency.

I've flown over the Colorado mountains at a couple of thousand feet for years, and I can tell you that localized weather conditions at each and every valley can be severe .... and extremely different. One pilot may be reporting clear conditions, and the next valley over can be absolutely hammered, obscured, and not flyable by light aircraft. I've seen it so defined that the tower at Eagle airport (on the north side) was reporting hard IFR conditions and the south side of the valley up to just a few yards north of the runway was severe clear conditions ... so I was able to land in very pleasant VFR conditions.

I've had many flights from Aspen or Eagle to Centennial where the briefer's were reporting VFR flight not recommended, pilot reports of nasty/obscured conditions at Corona Pass and vicinity .... and had a perfectly nice VFR flight from point to point by flying the open and clear areas. Sometimes, I've had to divert a few miles to get to then next valley, sometimes (for example) ... a little bit further North, up past the Red Feather lakes area and then back to a more direct route (which only adds a few minutes of flying time).

My point here is that anywhere you go in Colorado ... you may expect to find highly variable and intense weather conditions that are rapidly changing.

From a recreational standpoint ... there's plenty of weather activity to be found in the OP's original question areas ... and it's a lot more scenic visiting there and seeing a lightning storm come through (especially a dry lightning storm with a lot of cloud to cloud activity) than it is to watch an extreme (damage the cars and buildings) hailstorm on the Front Range in the hail belt.
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