Snow back in the forecast

After a several week hiatus, snow will make a brief return tomorrow tomorrow night. The going forecast is calling for a dusting to 3 inches in town, with 3 to 5 for the foothills. Nothing too impressive as most of the energy from this system is expected to stay well south of the area. Thursday will remain cool, with high pressure building back into the area for the weekend.

Giant winter storm continues to pound the west; will miss Denver

An impressive storm that has churned for days over the southwest has started to push north and east. Denver looks like it will dodge the bullet, with only a slight chance of rain and snow showers over the weekend. Our mountains on the other hand, especially in the southwest, will receive a healthy dumping of snow - 2 to 4 feet of the white stuff! Good news as many mountain locations are way below normal for snowfall this year. Portions of southern California and the higher terrain of Arizona saw anywhere from 5 - 7 feet of snow from this system. Hot damn!

Nothing too impressive looming on the horizon for Denver. January tends to be a pretty slow month for weather here in town, and this year is panning out to be no different. Watching a few shortwaves that may bring a chance for precip during the middle of next week... but we will see.

Cooling Trend, Mountain Snow

After yet another spring-like day, things are poised to slowly change as the week progresses. There are five storms lined up off the west coast that will be making landfall at a pace of about one per day, pushing abundant moisture into the southwest United States. The initial systems are expected to bring some much needed snow to the high country but only introduce clouds, cooler temps, and stray flurries to the eastern plains. By the end of the week and this weekend we could be talking about some snow here in town - but too much uncertainty remains to offer any clues on how much and when. At this point there is probably a better chance that system skips us to the west, north, then east than it actually bringing us some snow. But we shall see!
Here's a map from the Weather Channel showing abundant moisture being pushed into the southwest:

Shorts Weather?

The next few days will be quite mild, especially after last week's bitter cold. Tuesday we may be flirting with the 60 degree mark, before a slight cool off Wednesday into Thursday. Our only chance for precip this week looks to be Thursday... but looks like a no-big-deal kind of thing, with precip chances ranging from 10 to 30%, and limited moisture/cold air to work with. No big storms on the horizon, enjoy the thaw.

Bitter Cold Grips Nation

Just how cold did it get overnight? -16 degrees F was the low temperature recorded at Denver International Airport sometime just after 3am this morning. Currently we are not doing much better... hovering at about 8 degrees below zero. We are not alone in this arctic blast as nearly every state in the country is getting a little taste of winter. Check out the current wind chill map from the weather channel - it feels like -44 degrees in parts of North Dakota! Highs are expected to stay in the low teens in Denver today... but with the sun shining, this should be bearable. Tonight's lows will once again drop below zero before we make a nice recovery for the weekend!

...Cold

A potent cold front still on track to affect the area during the day tomorrow. Our highs will come during the early morning, as temperatures are expected to fall into the teens during the day. While there is a chance for snow associated with this system, the big story once again will be the cold temperatures. We can expect anywhere from 1 - 3 inches of snow, with more possible in snow-favored areas in the region. As the snow clears tomorrow evening, temperatures will plummet. It is anticipated we fall well below zero both Wednesday and Thursday nights, with single digit highs (but sunny) on Thursday.

This system will be quick hitting. We should rebound very nicely into the weekend with above normal temperatures returning to the region.

Happy New Year, Snow, and January Outlook

As I mentioned in my previous post, it looks like another potent cold front is going to drop out of Canada and bring some weather changes to much of Colorado including Denver on Wednesday. With still several days to tweak the forecast I will refrain from getting too excited, or specific, and instead will just mention a good chance of cold Canadian air and some snow to effect the area for Wednesday into Thursday.

Much of the nation is already under a deep freeze. The first map from the Weather Channel and shows current wind chill values in the U.S., the second is from the Weather Underground and shows the cold Canadian air mass waiting in the wings.

January tends to be a pretty calm month for Denver. The National Weather Service's climatology page states it is Denver's coldest month, and fifth snowiest. The coldest temperature ever recorded in Denver of -29 degrees F occured during the month of January. Wind is often the biggest story of the month, providing us with those warm windy days so common during the early part of last year. Last January also made it in the top five for driest Januaries on record - let us hope 2010 starts a little wetter (and colder) than 2009!

Quick Update - Slight Chance of Snow

Slight chance of snow tomorrow and tomorrow night... Anything that falls should be remain light... and likely would just be a brief flurry, if anything. Cool temps will continue.

Attention then turns to the middle of next week as we could be in for another potent arctic blast, and some snow. As it is still way to far out for any confidence in a forecast, I'll wait to blog about it in any seriousness until later in the weekend.