The one constant about May weather is change. Colorado natives and those that have lived here long enough know that Denver and Colorado weather changes considerably throughout the year. The month of May almost seems to pack an entire year of weather conditions into 31 days. You name it, it can happen. Click here to read our May 2008 weather preview for more information.
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Hail and Possible Tornado on Eastern Plains
Much of the eastern plains found itself under a Tornado Watch late Wednesday afternoon as a number of thunderstorms moved through the area. At about 5:00pm radar indicated a possible tornado 22 miles northwest of Burlington. Being a rural area, this has not been confirmed yet however storm spotters have reported hail up to 1.5 inches in diameter from the storm cell. Further south at about the same time, radar detected a storm with some serious rotation about 27 miles northeast of Lamar. One inch hail was recorded in the area but no tornadoes. Below are radar captures of the two cells at their prime.
These storms have moved east into Kansas at this time however the area remains under a Tornado Watch until 9:00pm. This serves to highlight that this is the severe weather season and while these particular storms were a good ways from the metro area, everyone needs to be prepared.
Colorado Storm Chasers – Start Your Engines!
It looks like Wednesday will bring Colorado storm chasers their first chance to hit the road! A dryline is expected to develop and move eastward across the plains, east of Watkins. As this happens the chance for severe thunderstorms along and east of this line will be pretty good, possibly opening the door for large hail and tornadoes. The northeast corner of the state could be interesting to watch tomorrow.
Closer to home along the Front Range, a Red Flag Warning is in effect for Wednesday for most of the central part of the state. This low humidity and the winds are making things tinder dry so please, be very careful.
Never been on a storm chase? Here’s a sample:
Red Flag Warning In Effect For Wednesday
Hopefully this will get everyone’s attention. The fire danger continues to be high due to very low humidity and steady winds that are drying everything out. After spending Saturday and Sunday under a Red Flag Warning, the National Weather Service has issued another for Wednesday. PLEASE be careful out there.
RED FLAG WARNING NATIONAL
WEATHER SERVICE DENVER CO
347 PM MDT TUE APR 22 2008
…RED FLAG WARNING IN EFFECT FROM 10 AM TO 9 PM MDT WEDNESDAY…
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN DENVER HAS ISSUED A RED FLAG WARNING…WHICH IS IN EFFECT FROM 10 AM TO 9 PM MDT WEDNESDAY. THE FIRE WEATHER WATCH IS NO LONGER IN EFFECT.
DRY FUELS…ABOVE NORMAL TEMPERATURES…SOUTHWEST WINDS GUSTING TO BETWEEN 25 AND 40 MPH…AND MINIMUM RELATIVE HUMIDITY VALUES LESS THAN 15 PERCENT ARE STILL ANTICIPATED OVER THE FRONT RANGE FOOTHILLS AND ADJACENT PLAINS ON WEDNESDAY. CRITICAL FIRE WEATHER
CONDITIONS ARE EXPECTED TO DEVELOP BY LATE WEDNESDAY MORNING AND LAST THROUGH WEDNESDAY EVENING. THE RED FLAG WARNING COVERS THE FRONT RANGE FOOTHILLS…THE URBAN CORRIDOR FROM THE WYOMING BORDER TO THE PALMER DIVIDE AND THE COUNTIES OF WELD…MORGAN…
ARAPAHOE…ADAMS AND PARK. FIRE WEATHER CONDITIONS SHOULD IMPROVE LATER WEDNESDAY NIGHT AS WIND SPEEDS GRADUALLY DECREASE AND RELATIVE HUMIDITIES RISE.
A RED FLAG WARNING MEANS THAT CRITICAL FIRE WEATHER CONDITIONS ARE EITHER OCCURRING OR IMMINENT. PLEASE ADVISE THE APPROPRIATE OFFICIALS AND FIRE CREWS IN THE FIELD OF THIS RED FLAG WARNING.
Red Flag Warning in Effect, Experts Warn of Wildfire Danger
A Red Flag Warning has been issued for most of the state as warm temperatures and low humidities have increased the danger of fires getting out of control. This was witnessed first hand last week with the four wildfires in southern Colorado that quickly got out of hand.
Further, the AP is reporting that while we have had record snowpack this winter, that doesn’t necessarily translate to decreased fire danger.
Wildfire experts say the problem is the winter was short, which means the trees and plants absorbed less moisture than if the snow cover had been around longer.
They say that’s one of the factors behind a fire near Carbondale last week that burned 1 and 1/2 square miles.
Capt. Shaun Moore of the Greater Eagle Fire Protection District says the snowpack could actually boost the wildfire risk because the snow has helped grass grow taller. That could make it easier for flames to leap to trees when the grass dries out.
PLEASE be careful out there!
A RED FLAG WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM NOON TODAY TO 8 PM MDT THIS EVENING.
GUSTY SOUTHWEST WINDS AND VERY LOW RELATIVE HUMIDITIES ARE EXPECTED THIS AFTERNOON INTO THE EARLY EVENING HOURS. AS A RESULT A RED FLAG WARNING HAS BEEN ISSUED FROM 12 PM TO 8 PM MDT. AREAS IN THE WARNING WILL AGAIN INCLUDE THE INTERSTATE 25 CORRIDOR AND NORTHEAST PLAINS OF COLORADO.
SOUTHWEST WINDS OF 15 TO 30 MPH WITH A FEW HIGHER GUSTS CAN BE EXPECTED THIS AFTERNOON AND WILL CONTINUE INTO THE EARLY EVENING HOURS. IN ADDITION…RELATIVE HUMIDITY WILL DROP TO AROUND 10 PERCENT. THE GUSTY WINDS AND LOW HUMIDITIES WILL COMBINE WITH DRY FUELS TO CREATE CRITICAL FIRE CONCERNS THROUGH EARLY THIS EVENING.
A RED FLAG WARNING MEANS THAT CRITICAL FIRE WEATHER CONDITIONS ARE EITHER OCCURRING OR IMMINENT.
Examiner.com Launches Featuring Weather Commentary From Us!
We are excited to announce that ThorntonWeather.com’s chief amateur meteorologist is now writing for a new local news website, Examiner.com. Examiner.com officially launched this past Monday and seeks to be a local source for Denver area news. The former editor of YourHub joined them and in turn invited us to become a contributor to their site. This new site is actually run by Philip Anschutz’s Clarity Media Group so it has some serious backing.
The key difference between it and similar sites is a series of blog-type articles written by “Examiners” on a variety of topics from weather and traffic to politics and art. Examiners are mostly just everyday citizens that have special insight or just may have a lot to say about a topic. In addition there are of course local and national news headlines, weather, classified ads and more. It is everything you would expect in a local news website and more.
I invite everyone to check it out. We are very excited to be part of this new endeavor and believe it is a welcome addition to the online community.
Click here to go to Examiner.com.
Click here for the Weather Examiner’s page – written by Tony of ThorntonWeather.com.
Beautiful Weekend Ahead!
Time to get outside this weekend! The forecast looks absolutely beautiful with a high of 76 expected on Saturday and 72 on Sunday. This is why we all love Colorado.
Southern parts of the state and much of the western slope do currently have Red Flag Warnings or Fire Weather Watches posted. As we saw earlier this week with the fires near Ordway and Fort Carson, conditions are ripe in some places of the state for dangerous wildfires. A Red Flag Warning means that critical fire weather conditions are either occurring now or are imminent. A combination of strong winds, low relative humidity and warm temperatures will create explosive fire growth potential. One has not been issued for northeastern Colorado – yet. Indications are we could find ourselves under one on Sunday if conditions persist.
One last note… If you are interested, there are still opportunities to attend the National Weather Service storm spotter training. There will be two sessions in Commerce City on April 30th and a few others around the metro are in the next couple of weeks. Click here to see the schedule. These are great sessions for anyone interested in wanting to learn more about our severe weather. You can read more about the spotter program here.
From Near Record Heat to Snow!
Springtime in Colorado! Tuesday the official high in Denver hit 82 degrees, just two degrees shy of the record for that date. At ThorntonWeather.com we were a bit warmer with a high of 85.1 degrees. Now, 24 hours later, we are preparing for a pretty decent snowstorm. What fun!
We’ll reach a high of 50 on Wednesday but it will be shortlived as an upper level cold front moves across the state. After noon we will start to see a rain and snow mix fall across the Front Range which will turn to entirely snow tonight. 2 – 4 inches of the white stuff can be expected in the metro area although much of that will melt quickly with as warm as the ground is. Thornton can expect to be at the lower range of that spectrum as the worst of this storm will hit the southern Front Range. The Palmer Divide and parts of Douglas, Elbert and Park Counties are under a Winter Storm Watch as they are expected to be hit a bit hard with this storm.
The good news is that this cold front should bring some relief to those fighting the wildfires in the southern part of the state. However, ahead of the front strong winds are blowing which will cause more grief until some precipitation starts falling and humidities climb. Much of the southern part of the state is under a Red Flag Warning through 6:00pm Wednesday.
Warmest Day of the Year Ahead
You have to love Colorado weather! Monday we had our warmest day of the year with a high of 76.1 degrees. It was absolutely beautiful. Today we most likely will top that by a little bit but unfortunately there will also be wind as a cold front starts to move into the area. Look for high temps today similar to yesterday.
Looking farther ahead, Wednesday will bring changes as an upper level low moves into the state. The southern Front Range foothills and Palmer Divide area could see three inches of snow. Further north in the metro area and Thornton we could see scattered rain and snow showers but nothing that will accumulate. Thursday we return to seasonal temperatures while the weekend is looking to be beautiful again with highs around 70.
Website note: Some of you may have noticed our conditions and statistics not updating yesterday starting around 11:30am. We apologize for the problem but our DSL line was down. Qwest of course couldn’t explain why but it miraculously started working again last night. While our website is connected directly to the Internet and stayed up and running, we need the DSL line to update the site with the information from our weather sensors. We apologize for the downtime.
April Storm Comes and Goes
Updated 4/10 @ 3:50pm – Another pretty typical spring snowstorm has come and gone. In a span of a bit more than 24 hours we go from sunny, 60 degree temperatures to rain with thunderstorms to snow and near blizzard conditions. You have to love Colorado weather! Here in Thornton we measured 2.8″ of very wet snow. Some of the other area totals:
Denver – 2.5 inches
Fort Morgan – 2.4 inches
Greely – 4.0 inches
Greenwood Village – 6.0 inches
Highlands Ranch – 4.0 inches
Parker – 6.7 inches
Wheat Ridge – 1.0 inches
A chance of snow showers remains in the forecast through Friday night but the weekend is looking great with at or above normal temperatures.
Updated 4/10 @ 6:00am – Definitely a wet one out there! The rain started around 8:00pm in Thornton last night and we saw 0.2″ of rain before midnight. After tapering off, the snow started falling before 4:00am and it is coming down pretty good now but thanks to the warm ground, not much is sticking to the roads although they are very wet. The Snow & Blowing Snow Advisory remains in effect until 6:00pm tonight primarily because of the winds we are seeing. Northeastern Colorado is going to bear the brunt of the storm so if you are heading that way on I-76, be prepared. In Thornton we will probably only see an inch or two of snow during the day today.
April 08, 2008 @ 17:08 – Winter Storm Watch Issued – A Big One Coming?
A big one or a big dud – that is the question. The National Weather Service has issued a Winter Storm Watch for most of northeastern Colorado and much of the mountain areas which goes into effect Wednesday night. The weather patterns are very dynamic right now and it is tough to say exactly what is going to happen; as always, a lot depends on what track the storm takes. Travel will almost certainly be impacted but it is a matter of where that impact will occur that is the question.
At the current time the earliest we would expect precipitation along the Front Range is mid-day Wednesday. Assuming the upslope conditions setup as it looks like they will, things will start with a rain and snow mix and then turn to all snow by Thursday morning. Snow totals from 3 to 8 inches are currently projected. As the storm approaches we will know more about how this will all set up.
Remember – A winter storm watch means there is a potential for a hazardous winter weather event in and close to the watch area. Significant snow accumulations may occur that could impact travel. Stay tuned to ThorntonWeather.com, the National Weather Service or your local news media for the latest updates and possible warning concerning this potential winter storm.