What will winter bring to Colorado this year? LA NINA!!! (neighborhood, live)

[onthamove]

i have been looking into this the la nina years typically have made for cold and snowier than normal conditions early on in the winter such as nov-feb, while the la nina springs didnt feature very much snow at all, if you all want some links and intersting articles....just ask me!

[Katarina Witt]

I wouldn't wait around for this if I were you. We've heard it all before. Sometimes, it just doesn't pan out.

[onthamove]

Originally Posted by pittnurse70

I wouldn't wait around for this if I were you. We've heard it all before. Sometimes, it just doesn't pan out.

pittnurse, you are right statistically speaking these long range predictions have slightly less than 30% accuracy or even near accuracy for that matter, anyway it will be intersting to see wat pans out as the NWS is calling for above normal temps across the entire rocky mtn region...we will see

[Katarina Witt]

One year, my daughter read this brilliant piece of reporting in the paper (paraphrasing) "La Nina may bring us more snow, less snow or the same amount"!!!

[onthamove]

yea, i guess that prediction was right lol then again thats like saying there is going to be weather....weather is describing a condition there will always be a condition in the atmosphere so to say, a winter may bring less than normal, normal or more than normal snow is crazy anyone can predict that lol

[McGowdog]

I'd like to see more snow than last season!

Oops, I violated my own rant by talking about the weather. http://i127.photobucket.com/albums/p133/mcgowdog/deadhorse.gif (broken link) http://i127.photobucket.com/albums/p133/mcgowdog/soapbox.gif (broken link)

[gpraceman]

Originally Posted by McGowdog

I'd like to see more snow than last season!

That'd be fine with me as long as it is more spread out so it has a chance to melt in between storms. "Offroading it" around the neighborhood last year was a bit too bone jarring. Otherwise, I like the white stuff.

[jazzlover]

The problem with generalizing about the effects of "El Nino," "La Nina," or other climate phenomona in Colorado is that Colorado is a large state located far from moisture sources, and with extremely varied terrain. As an example, quite often an "El Nino" year will bring increased Pacific moisture to Colorado in the spring. That can enhance spring snows (the ones that give the mountains a lot of their moisture) on the Western Slope of Colorado. At the same time, it can inhibit Gulf of Mexico moisture migrating towards Colorado in spring. So, the Western Slope may get above normal spring precipitation, while the Eastern Slope and plains get less than normal.

This year showed another example. Normally, June is the wettest month in the lower and mid-elevations of northern Colorado and southern Wyoming, and August is the wettest month in much of the lower and mid-elevations of southern Colorado and northern New Mexico. This summer, June was average or a little better than average in much southern Colorado, while much of northern Colorado and southern Wyoming was quite dry in its normally wettest month. But then, a more active than normal "southwest monsoon" brought much wetter than normal weather to most of the region in August, with many areas of northern Colorado and southern Wyoming getting more rain in August than they do in a normal wet June. Go figure.

The point is that temperature, precipitation and weather patterns in Colorado vary considerably from "normal" in most every year. The hotly debated question is whether or not the state is entering a protracted period of drier than normal climate. That is a scary thought, given--thanks to uncontrolled growth--the state's tenuous water situation, even in "normal" years. In fact, many climate experts believe that Colorado's climate has been "abnormally normal" during most of the last century. Some experts believe that era is ending and that the state is headed for a much more volatile climate period--with the possibility of deep long-lived droughts as a climate feature.

It's good to remember an old climatological saying: "Climate is what you expect, weather is what you get."