Official 2021-2022 Colorado Winter and Snow Thread (Denver, Boulder: law, retired)

[Mike from back east]

Time to start the annual winter thread for the state; there will be a separate thread for Denver.

NOAA has called this a La Niña year which means a number of things but notably that "worsening drought conditions in the Southwest through the winter and potentially elevating the fire risk through the fall."

Story on WaPo.


Excerpt: "During La Niña winters, high pressure near the Aleutian chain shoves the polar jet stream north over Alaska, maintaining an active storm track there. The Last Frontier often ends up cooler than average. The confluence of the polar and Pacific jet streams, as shown in the image above, helps drag some of that cold air across the Pacific Northwest and adjacent parts of the northern Plains. That keeps the northern United States anomalously wet, while the South is left largely warm and dry. This is bad news for California and other parts of the Southwest, which are enduring a historic drought. The persistence of warm, dry conditions would cause the drought to worsen and potentially prolong the fire season."


So, if I understand correctly, a La Niña winter portends less snowfall this year. Comments?

[parfleche]

Lots of rain sept and oct in the 4 corners so far had snow 2 days ago.Wolf Creek ski area first to open in the state.Hope it keeps up.

[DOUBLE H]

Originally Posted by parfleche

Lots of rain sept and oct in the 4 corners so far had snow 2 days ago.Wolf Creek ski area first to open in the state.Hope it keeps up.

I was cruising through on 491 day before yesterday--Parfleche is right. Dove Creek sits at about 68oo ft. elevation. Got three inches of snow on the ground. The snow level on the Bookcliffs in Mesa County looks to be lower, guessing 5500 ft. Grand Junction got 1/4 inch of rain out of this system. I'll take it. In fact Mesa County got a sizable storm last week as well.

[DOUBLE H]

A sizable front is blowing through Mesa County-tonight calls for rain in the valley, possibly 3 to 5 inches of snow on the Grand Mesa.

[BabyBoomers2]

Fairly heavy snow falling as I post this at 10:20 AM, Monday, Nov. 1st, in western Loveland. Some of it is sticking. Sure glad I'm retired and my wife works from home.

[DOUBLE H]

A sizable system is coming through Western Colorado but it's kind of spotty in places. 7000ft. and under towns are just rain. Am watching Fox31 right now and it is showing Vail Pass where the snow is coming down pretty good. Telluride reports only rain, as does Craig. Yet it was just reported NBC affiliate KKCO that the chain law is in effect for Red Mountain Pass.Northern front range mountains look to get 2"-4" inches of snow. But from Monarch pass down to Wolf Creek Pass it doesn't look let they are getting much out of this. Spotty for sure.

[Melanzana92]

Expected a dusting overnight and woke up this morning to a good 3-4 inches. This is probably our first "real" snow of the season in Lake County, where it will likely now start to accumulate more than melt, at least in shaded areas. Looks like more will be coming here and northward on Thursday night! I might have to play hooky on Friday morning.

[downtownnola]

No snow at all so far here on the Front Range. Looking at the long range forecasts, it may be December before we see anything here. This is disappointing for me as I love snow this time of year, and not good for our long term drought outlook either

[DOUBLE H]

The system rolling through western Colorado isn't much to bother with, but according to Fox31 the front range will will be on a high wind warning with the mountains getting as much as 50 m.p.h. winds by tonight. Also they are predicting a 30 degree drop in temperatures.

[waltcolorado]

Interesting slide show from National Weather Service in Boulder for another La Nina winter

https://www.weather.gov/media/bou/La...look_Oct21.pdf