Friday marked the one year anniversary of the tornado that struck Holly, Colorado in Prowers County. At 8:11pm on March 28, 2007, with no real warning, an EF-3 tornado with winds of 165mph touched down and quickly tore a path more than two miles long and four blocks wide. 162 of the 369 homes in Holly were either damaged or destroyed but most notably, Rosemary Puga died during the storm and Delores Burns died a month later due to the injuries she suffered.
Today Holly is rebuilding and showing the American spirit of survival that has been demonstrated so many times in our country’s history. From the ashes of pain, suffering and destruction a new Holly is rising today but it serves as a reminder of the destructive power of Mother Nature. Here in Colorado we can see the entire gamut of severe weather and while we talk about the weather every day, we should always remember that it is not us who is in control and lives can be lost.
Please take a moment to say a prayer for Rosemary, Delores and all of the residents of Holly.
For the next few days residents of the Denver area will be able to get a glimpse of the space station over the southern skies. Tonight it will be visible starting at 7:56pm in the south-southwest sky, about 10 degrees above the horizon. That is pretty low but come Friday and Sunday the angles are a bit higher. Be sure to check it out!
Last night / this morning we had a bit of a surprise as the forecasted snow that was only supposed to amount to 1/2 inch quickly turned into 3.7 inches on the ground early this morning. Yesterday afternoon and early evening we started observing some upslope conditions with strong winds from the northeast and begain wondering if the passing front could bring more than forecast. The snow started falling in earnest around 8:00pm, tapered off around 9:30 then at 12:30 this morning more started falling. All in all a pleasant surprise. 
First, the good news. With the extraordinary amount of snow the mountains have experienced this winter, the chances of drought are negligible for most of the state. The southeastern corner of Colorado however could see some risk.
Updated Monday, 3/17, 9:50am – The National Weather Service has cancelled the Heavy Snow Warning for the Denver metro area. Light snow early this morning should come to an end in most areas by late this morning and little additional snow accumulation is anticipated. We should see gradual warming with dry and seasonal temperatures at least until Friday. 
This week NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center announced that from December 2007 to February 2008 temperatures across the United States and the globe were their coolest since 2001. In the contiguous United States, the average winter temperature was 33.2°F which ranks it as the 54th coolest winter since national records began in 1895. Globally, the combined land and ocean surface temperature was the 16th warmest on record for the period.
Colorado in the spring! Quite an array of weather across the state ahead for the coming days. The northern and central mountains are getting pounded with snow where Winter Storm Warnings are in effect through Friday night. One to two feet of snow is expected up there as our record snowpack continues to build.
We’re in the typical rollercoaster weather pattern that we usually see in the spring. Tuesday was beautiful with a high of 68 degrees in Thornton. Today will be a bit cooler as we reach 62 or so and that cooling trend should continue into the weekend. A small disturbance could bring some minor snow accumulations to the area on Friday. 
At the 2008 International Conference on Climate Change on March 3 in New York, Weather Channel founder John Coleman had some interesting words about man made climate and global warming. Among his comments he proposed suing those who sell ‘carbon credits’ in order to force an open and honest debate about climate change.