Official 2023-2024 Colorado Winter and Snow Thread (Denver, Colorado Springs: school, college)

[DOUBLE H]

Originally Posted by DOUBLE H

Well this prediction turned out to be an average storm. 10 inches at Aspen, 4 inches at Crested Butte, 7 inches at Wolf Creek, the rest was a spotty 2-3 inches around the state. Oh well. The problem was the wind and it howled at my house, big high wind problems on I-70 in Georgetown--and a good portion of that storm sailed down to the southeast and an ungodly grass fire is still out of control northeast of Amarillo. The truckers heeded the warning as the Fruita Truck Stop on I-70 and Exit 19 was packed with semis for a time. A warmup is coming tomorrow, Fruita's low was 18 at my house.

Well, hopefully this next system will bring in more moisture, they sure as hell are getting it at Donner Pass in northern California. The front is here with consistent 30 mile per hour winds at my house. When I first moved here in the late 1980's, I heard the ranchers talk about 50 times three when it comes to a weather forecast so I asked them. "50 rain drops, 50 snowflakes, and 50 mile an hour winds." Well, we'll see-again!

[DOUBLE H]

Well! Finally it did--finally!


Started around 10 p.m. and stopped around 4 a.m. this morning. 5 inches in Fruita and a whole bunch of semi trucks at the truck stop off exit 19.

[Mike from back east]

Snowpack levels as of 09 March have changed a bit since last reported here.

Regions:
Yampa and White: 109% (up 4%)
Upper Colorado Head Waters: 105% (up 6%)
Gunnison: 100% (up 5%)
San Miguel, Dolores, Animas and San Juan: 82% (down 10%)
Laramie and North Platte: 101% (up 4%)
South Platte: 94% (up 1%)
Arkansas: 97% (up 6%)
Upper Rio Grande: 84% (down 3%)

The old mapping system has aged out and a new mapping system is now being used.


A major storm is due to dump a foot of snow on Denver on/about Thursday, 14 March.

[DOUBLE H]

Originally Posted by DOUBLE H

Well! Finally it did--finally!

Started around 10 p.m. and stopped around 4 a.m. this morning. 5 inches in Fruita and a whole bunch of semi trucks at the truck stop off exit 19.

The upcoming one will be hitting the whole state soon, actually it started raining in Mesa County around 1 this morning. The big C-Dot digital board on I-70 mile marker 20 is saying "Dangerous Storm-Travel Discouraged." And Fox 31 is spending more time on this than usual.

Nasty conditions starting late tonight and going till Friday afternoon, 8 to 12 inches in town, anywhere from 20 to 30 inches in the high country.

[COcheesehead]

Just lots of rain in the Grand Valley. I remember my front range days when spring storms smacked you a good one. I’ll take rain anytime.

[Mike from back east]

Here in Phoenix we get Fox Weather channel on cable channel 69 and it's far better than the Weather Channel.

Hope the snowpack grows nicely with this one towards a heavy spring flow into Lakes Meade and Powell.

[DOUBLE H]

Am watching Fox31, It's the only Denver station that Mesa County gets. Right now Idaho Springs have 24 inches of now, Castle Rock has 18, rather surprising that Ft. Collins doesn't have any right now. More snow coming tonight and tomorrow.

[otowi]

About 4 inches right now south of Colorado Springs but accumulating fast. Probably much much more on the north end.

[COcheesehead]

Light flurries in Grand Junction. 38 degrees and nothing sticking.

[Mike from back east]

Even a British newspaper, The Guardian, is carrying this weather story.

Excerpts:

A major snowstorm has hit Colorado, closing numerous schools and government offices on Thursday and shutting down sections of highways leading to the Denver area as meteorologists warned of difficult-to-nearly-impossible travel.

“Our city hasn’t seen a storm like this in a few years,” Denver’s mayor, Mike Johnston, posted Wednesday on X, formerly known as Twitter.

The snowstorm comes as other parts of the United States face severe weather. Massive chunks of hail pelted parts of Kansas and Missouri on Wednesday night, with storms unleashing a possible tornado in Kansas.

The Colorado storm, which began on Wednesday night, was not expected to wind down until Friday. The heaviest snow accumulations were expected in the Front Range mountains and foothills, with a large area expected to get 18-36in (45-91cm), and some amounts exceeding 4ft (1.2 meters), the National Weather Service said.

Sections of Interstate 70 were closed in the Colorado mountains.

“Huge flakes coming down hard,” the weather service’s office in Boulder posted on social media early on Thursday.

I wonder if the Denver airport will shut down....