Category Archives: Site News

New ThorntonWeather.com webcams provide a live window to the outside

September 15, 2008 Thornton Weather Leave a comment

ThorntonWeather.com's new weather webcams provide a great way to view current conditions.

We are pleased to announce the latest addition to our growing stable of features: Weather webcams! ThorntonWeather.com now features two live cameras that provide a great look into the current weather conditions in Thornton. The west camera provides a good view of the western sky to see what is approaching and happening right now. The east camera looks toward the plains and will show good “on the ground” conditions, particularly come winter when it starts snowing.

The pictures from each camera are updated and uploaded to the website every five minutes. We also feature a time-lapse movie of each camera showing the previous 24 hours worth of images that is kind of fun to watch. 🙂

This is an exciting new feature and we are sure it will quickly become one of our most popular! You can click here to view the webcam images right now! They are also accessible from our menus by going to Live Conditons and then selecting Weather Webcams.

What do you think of our webcams? Are there other features, changes, or enhancements you would like to see ThorntonWeather.com incororate? Click the “Comment” link below and let us know!

Site News

Have something to say about the weather? Leave a comment!

August 6, 2008 Thornton Weather 1 Comment

Look for the comment section at the bottom of a posting and send us your thoughts!

We have turned on the capability for visitors to leave comments to postings in your news / blog section. This is a great way for you to share your thoughts on the weather, comments on a topic, suggestions for us, or if you have a question about a topic, you can ask it here and we will respond.

Leaving a comment / question is very simple. If you are viewing a page that lists multiple stories (like the main index), at the bottom of each story you will see a link that says “X Comments” – clicking on that will take you to that individual posting where you can leave your comment. If you are viewing an individual posting already, at the bottom of that posting is a section that says “Leave a reply” – simply fill out the form and your comment will be sent.

Oftentimes these comment sections turn into nothing more than a repository for “comment spam” but we have implemented measures to help control this. In addition to some behind the scenes software that will control this, we also will have the system set so that we must manually approve a comment before it appears. Don’t worry – there won’t be any censoring of comments – we are going to do this temporarily until we are sure we aren’t going to get spammed with comments.

Now you can leave comments & questions to us!

We are excited to be able to implement this new feature to help us share our passion for everything weather! So, do you have anything to say? Let us know!

Colorado Weather, Site News, Thornton Weather

The records keep coming & a new website feature

August 3, 2008 Thornton Weather Leave a comment

Denver’s record of consecutive days with 90+ degrees continues as Saturday reached 103 degrees officially at DIA. Here in Thornton we topped out at 98.6. The temperature was quickly climbing and we were sure we were going to break 100 but early afternoon brought cloud cover to the Thronton area thus keeping us from reaching triple digits.

From the National Weather Service, four records were broken in the first two days of the month:

August 1st: New record high: 104 degrees Old record: 100 degrees last set in 1938
August 2nd: New record high: 103 degrees Old record: 100 degrees last set 130 years ago in 1878
August 2nd: New record high minimum: 70 degrees Old record 68 degrees last set in 1938
August 2nd: the consecutive 90 streak record continues with 21 consecutive days tallied.

Quite the start to the month!

New website feature added today! You can now view official National Weather Service “Local Storm Reports” directly on our website. These reports are submitted by NWS personnel, trained spotters, law enforcement as well as other emergency responders. They are a great way to see what is happening. This new feature not only displays these reports for the metro area but also for all NWS offices across the country! Special thanks to Curly at Michiana Weather for sharing the code that allows this to happen.

You can view the storm reports at any time by a new menu item added under the “Live Condtions” menu and the “Forecast” menu on the left.

Colorado Weather, National Weather, Site News, Thornton Weather

Regional Weather Now at Rocky Mountain Weather Network

May 28, 2008 Thornton Weather Leave a comment

We are excited to announce a new regional weather website – the Rocky Mountain Weather Network (RMWN) – that you will find at www.rockymountainweather.net.

One of the prominent members of the personal weather station (PWS) community, Ken True of SaratogaWX, recently hatched the idea of a series of regional weather networks, all being fed data from weather stations in the areas they serve. Tony of ThorntonWeather.com has agreed to manage the regional network for the Rocky Mountain area encompassing Colorado, New Mexico and Wyoming.

These networks are to provide an overview of weather conditions across the region and will provide links to the stations within. The main page of the site displays a “mesomap” with a rotating display of current weather conditions across the three states. At the current time, 18 stations are online with RMWN and more are joining daily.

The Rocky Mountain Weather Network will not only serve as an online repository for current weather conditions in the area, but we are also hoping to see it grow into an online community . To this end, online discussion forums have been created on the RMWN website that anyone can participate in. These will be frequented not only by weather station owners / operators but also by the public and anyone just generally interested in the weather. The community will be a great way for anyone interested in the weather to congregate online and discuss their common interests.

So please check out the Rocky Mountain Weather Network at www.rockymountainweather.net and be sure to stop by the discussion forums for some weather talk!

Local News, Site News

Examiner.com Launches Featuring Weather Commentary From Us!

April 19, 2008 Thornton Weather Leave a comment

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.

Click here for a list of other Denver area Examiner’s.

Site News

New features and data added to ThorntonWeather.com

February 24, 2008 Thornton Weather Leave a comment

ThorntonWeather.com We have been busy the last couple of days with some pretty neat enhancements to our website. The most obvious one being the addition of a “fly-out” menu on the left. The previous menu was getting quite lengthy as we added new features to the site. The new menu allows us to group items into main menu categories that when moused over then open a list of related items. This should make it easier to navigate plus allow you to better see items that you may be interested in.

Weather is very data oriented and the more you have, the more you know. To this end we have added a “Historical Statistics” page. This page draws from data we have submitted to Weather Underground since our inception in October 2006. Using it, you can view graphs and data for individual days, weeks, months and even full years. Simply select a date, click View and you receive all the weather data for that day. Click the week, month or year links and see data for those time periods as well. There is also a dropdown that allows you to view data from our sister stations in Arvada (arvadawx.com) and Commerce City (reunionweather.com).

Lastly is an exciting new feature – ThorntonWeather.com’s own NEXRAD radar system. Using specialized software, we can now generate our own radar images. That in and of itself is interesting but what really makes this system exciting is the data we can present on it. Not only radar images but also lightning data, thunderstorm information, and much more. We are still studying how best to share all of this information with our visitors but it looks to be a pretty neat addition to the site. At the current time you can view a single static image from the system or a radar loop that displays the last 2 hours of radar returns. Be sure to look below the radar images too – you will see a table that when a severe thunderstorm appears, will show you critical information about the storm including the chance for hail and even the predicted path of the storm.

For a sample of what a severe storm looks like on our computers using this new software, click on the image to the right. This is a screenshot of a storm as it moved across Louisana last week. Notice how it plots the radar, lightning strikes, storm cells and a path forecast.

So what do you think? If you have any comments, questions, suggestions or criticisms about our site please send us an email with anything you might have to say.

Site News

Add ThorntonWeather.com to Your Website

February 17, 2008 Thornton Weather Leave a comment

We’ve completed work on some weather “stickers” that you can now add to your own website. This is a great service for you and your website visitors and provides the current weather conditions in Thornton at a glance. The conditions displayed are real-time and updated every minute so you know you are seeing the latest!

You can choose from one of four designs – pick whichever best fits your site (a sample of one is below). To get information on how to easily add these images to your site and see the other choices, please click here.

Site News, Thornton Weather

Slow Weather But We’re Always Changing

January 13, 2008 Thornton Weather Leave a comment

The weather lately has been pretty uneventful with little to talk about. That may change Tuesday night when a cold front is supposed to move through. In the meantime though, there have been some changes and additions to our site. If you haven’t seen them already, you may wish to check them out.

– We’ve added the National Weather Service forecast discussion to the forecast section. This is where the NWS provides some more narrative behind their forecasts and gives a bit more of an in depth look at what we can expect. Click here to check it out.
– Our “Live Conditions” animation page now has the ability to view our lightning data, including the maps. When you are there, click the Lightning button to see it.
– Did you know we provide an email weather alert and report system? These are handy little emails that provide forecasts, statistics and more. Click here to learn more and sign up.
– We would like to welcome a new “sister station” aboard. ArvadaWX.com provides much of the same information we do here but tailored to Arvada, Colorado residents. Be sure to check them out and if you know anyone else that lives in that area, let them know as well.
– Don’t forget about our other sister station, ReunionWeather.com, for those that live in northern Commerce City!

As always, should you have any suggestions or comments about our site, please let us know.

Site News

Latest Addition – Snow Moisture Content Measurements

January 5, 2008 Thornton Weather Leave a comment

We are pleased to announce a new addition to our array of measurements – snow moisture content. In the past, moisture content measurements had to be done manually as the cold winter weather would freeze our rain gauge. As a result, we rarely performed these measurements (we’re wimps and don’t like the cold!). Now we have a heated rain bucket that is capable of melting snow at a rate of 0.25 inches of liquid precipitation per hour – that means over 2 1/2″ of average snow in an hour!

This will allow us to more accurately track the benefit of the moisture we receive from snow. As you know from shoveling it, the moisture content of snowfall varies greatly. The white, fluffy snow that ski areas love so much really doesn’t do much for moisture as it only contains about 5% of moisture. A heavy, wet spring snow like we see can have 15% or more. On average, Colorado snow hits around the 10% mark. No matter how much moisture is in the snow, we don’t get as much true moisture from it as you may think.

So, when you visit our site and see “rain” during the winter, that is the moisture content of the snow you are seeing.

Severe Weather, Site News

Lightning Detector Up and Running

December 23, 2007 Thornton Weather Leave a comment

We are pleased to announce that ThorntonWeather.com’s lightning detector is now up and running! This new system will allow us (and you) to monitor in real-time approaching storms and to more accurately gauge how severe a storm is and where it is headed. Of course in the middle of winter there isn’t a lot to see on it but come spring, it will prove to be invaluable. For more information on the system and how it works, please click here.

Lightning over the Colorado Mountains Colorado is ranked # 2 in lightning related deaths (1997 – 2006) so the danger this presents to life and property is very significant for us. It is interesting to note though that Colorado ranks only 31st in the number of cloud to ground strikes over that same period. This highlights the fact that, quite frankly, folks here in Colorado are ignorant about the dangers lightning presents and they simply do not take proper steps to protect themselves. For this reason, we have created a Lightning Education Center with more information about how you can protect yourself. Click here to visit it.

Some interesting facts about lightning:

– If you can see it or hear it, lightning can hit you. Find shelter now.
– Lightning is the number two weather killer in the United States (behind floods).
– Lightning kills about 60 people in the U.S. each year and inflicts severe life-long debilitating injuries on at least a 1,000 people a year.
– Every 5 seconds between flash and boom is a mile’s distance from you.
– Under ideal conditions, lightning’s thunder can be heard 12 miles away.
– Lightning is really no wider than a few inches.
– “Bolts from the Blue” – These lightning flashes have been documented to travel more than 25 miles away from the thunderstorm cloud. Clear skies above you are no indication of how dangerous a nearby storm is!

Weather, natural disasters & climate news and information.