Finally a storm worth blogging about?

It has been a long time since we have been under any kind of winter weather advisory, but that could all change in the next 24 hours. Already the National Weather Service has issued a winter storm watch for much of northeast Colorado, including Denver, for a potential storm Thursday night and Friday. At this point best estimates are looking like 5 - 10 inches of snow in most locations. Temperatures should be cold enough with this system that precip should be all snow (unlike last weekend), but ground temperatures have warmed significantly over the last days which always makes spring snowfall forecasts quite difficult. In any event, a good chance of snow and likely very gusty winds are in store for Friday - let's see what happens!

Until then, enjoy another day in the 60s on Thursday.

The following image shows the winter storm highlights for northeast Colorado (NWS).

*UPDATE*

Quick update to this morning's post... The National Weather Service has now issued a winter weather advisory for the greater Denver area. The forecast now calls for 1 - 5 inches to fall today and tonight, with 3 - 7 inches possible in snow-favored areas in the west and south. Some isolated snow showers may bring mean some areas may pick up even more than this in a short amount of time!

Heavy snow for foothills, little expected in town

A winter storm warning has been posted for areas just west of Denver, but little of that is expected to make it into the city. While we will likely see some rain and snow showers today, especially in the western and southern parts of town, little to no accumulation is expected. We'll see if this forecast changes as we go through the day!

Spring returns in earnest for the first part of this week, with highs both Tuesday and Wednesday in the 60s. Another cold front will affect the area at the end of the week... but at this point, does not look like anything all that impressive.

Exiting storm will bring some snow to Denver tonight

Well, we definitely missed out on what could have been a classic March snowstorm, but the large storm system that is now well east of us may drop a little snow as it exits this evening. Best chance for accumulation will be in the western and southern suburbs where upwards of five inches are possible, while anywhere from a dusting to three inches is expected everywhere else. Some snow showers may quickly dump some wet fluffy flakes in isolated areas, so higher amounts are not out of the question.

Things calm down a bit before another system swings across the region during the Sunday/Monday time frame. At this point it also looks like it will also take a southern track... and leave us out of the action again. For more on this, refer to every other post I have written in the last five months.

Where's our snow damn it?!

Winter stays on southern storm track

We continue to see one potent storm after another move onto the west coast, then quickly dive south over Arizona and New Mexico before launching east and wreaking havoc over the mid-Atlantic or deep south. Again, what looked like a decent chance at a nice snow storm for Denver about a week ago as dwindled into nothing but a chance of rain and snow showers over the next few days. With that, this week will be another spring like week, albeit a bit cooler than last, but no snow blizzards or deep-freezes to talk about. The coolest day of the week will likely be Thursday after a little cold front drops through the region Wednesday. By this weekend temps should rebound again nicely.................. And then? Who knows.

Another southern storm brings chance of light snow to forecast area

There is another pacific system that will bring changes to our weather this afternoon tonight. As has been the case most of this winter, however, this powerful (wet) storm will likely stay too far south to bring any kind of significant accumulation to the area. With that, snowfall predictions are ranging from about a dusting to 3 inches or 2 - 5 depending on who you listen to... Either way, no record-breaking March blizzard, that is for sure.

As we enter March, we enter one of the great transitional periods of the year. Known for rapidly changing weather, heavy snows, wind, rain, warmth, and cold... This week looks like it will live up to the roller coaster that pattern is March. After snow tonight, we could be looking at our first 60 degree reading in quite some time come Wednesday. By Thursday and Friday there may be another chance for snow.

By the numbers (src. NWS)...
- March is our snowiest month with 11.7 inches on average.
- Denver's snowiest March was in 2003, with 35.2 inches of snow recorded.
- Denver's wettest March was in 1983 with 4.56 inches of precip recorded.
- The driest? 0.11 inches in 1908
- The warmest temperature ever recorded in March was 84 degrees F in 1971
- Denver usually sees its first thunderstorm of the year in March.
- March 2009 was almost the driest March of all time... until the blizzard of '09 hit on the 26th dropping nearly 8 inches of wet spring snow.

Traditionally El-Nino years (like we are in right now) are very good to Denver if you like March snowstorms. Our last El-Nino March was in 2003, and we all know what kind of record breaking year that was. What does March 2010 have in store for us?