A major winter snowstorm has begun in the nation’s capital and forecasters are warning that by the time it is over, it may amount to Washington D.C.’s biggest snowstorm on record. Much of the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States was bracing for blizzard conditions and snowfall amounts that could exceed two feet.
The National Weather Service warned of ‘extremely dangerous’ weather conditions that will winds that will turn the snow into a blizzard. “Travel is highly discouraged tonight and will be very dangerous,” the service said. Winter Storm Warnings have been posted from North Carolina to Pennsylvania and from Indiana to Delaware.
Jane Lubchenco, administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration which oversees the National Weather Service took the unusual step of issuing her own statement prior to the storm arriving. “An epic snowstorm has the mid-Atlantic region in its crosshairs. At this time, personal safety must be first and foremost,” Lubchenco said.
Travel across the region began to come to a veritable halt Friday as airlines canceled flights and trains stopped running. Delta, Southwest and other airlines were stopping flights out of Washington, Philadelphia and Baltimore and were unsure when they would resume service. Amtrak canceled most train service from Washington southward.
Widespread, heavy snowfall is forecast for a large swath of the eastern United States. (NOAA)
Residents from Virginia, across Maryland and into New Jersey and Pennsylvania are prepping for blizzard conditions as a major winter storm is set to strike. Up to two feet of snow is forecast over the next 36 hours and businesses, government agencies and schools are scrambling to prepare.
The National Weather Service has issued Winter Storm Warnings from North Carolina through Pennsylvania and central Indiana to Delaware. Blizzard Warnings were issued for parts of Delaware and New Jersey.
Up to 24 inches of snow could fall in Baltimore, northern Virginia and Washington, D.C. Philadelphia is bracing for up to one foot of snow and 12 to 18 inches are expected near the Delaware and New Jersey coasts.
Even as the storm is just getting started, its effects are being felt. Airlines were announcing cancelations from Friday afternoon forward from airports in Baltimore, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C. Amtrak has canceled most train service from the nation’s capital south.
February comes and serves as a bit of a month of transition between winter and spring. Average temperatures start to climb and things are generally pretty quiet.
However, it is still winter and below freezing temperatures at night still remain the norm. February is not typically a snowy month – in fact only the 6th snowiest – with an average of 6.3 inches. In terms of severe weather, the month joins September and October as being the quietest for Denver.
As we say though, it is a month of transition and as such extremes can and have occurred in the past. From severe cold and snow to beautiful spring-like days we can see it all. Oftentimes the month can lull us into a false sense of spring when the snowiest month – March – has yet to come.
January 31 to February 6 - This week in Denver weather history
Winds can be a blessing and a curse this time of year. Chinook winds can help warm what is otherwise a normally chilly season. They can also cause a great deal of damage as they pick up speed as they come roaring across the Front Range. While we have been lucky thus far this year and not had damaging wind events, looking back at this week in Denver weather history one can’t help but think that maybe it is just a matter of time before they strike.
26-1
In 1888…a protracted warm spell lasted a week. Maximum temperatures ranged from 62 degrees on the 29th to an all time record high for the month of 76 degrees on the 27th. Daily record high temperatures of 76…69…and 71 occurred on the 27th…28th…and 30th respectively. Record high minimum temperatures of 47 and 34 occurred on the 26th and 27th.
27-31
In 1951…a major storm dumped 10.1 inches of snowfall at Stapleton Airport. Most of the snow…8.3 inches…fell on the 29th. Cold arctic air accompanied the snow. Several temperature records were set…including record low maximum temperatures of 4 on the 28th and 4 below zero on the 29th and record low temperatures of 12 below zero on the 29th and 24 below zero on the 31st. Temperatures were below zero for 45 consecutive hours.
29-31
In 1883…a major winter storm dumped 19.3 inches of snow on downtown Denver. Most of the snow…12.2 inches…fell on the 31st. This was the heaviest snowfall to hit the city in years. Temperatures plunged from a high of 52 degrees on the 29th to a low of 13 degrees on the 31st. Precipitation from the storm totaled 2.23 inches. The 1.22 inches of precipitation on the 31st was the greatest calendar day and 24 hour precipitation ever recorded in the city during the month of January.
30-31
In 1908…an apparent strong cold front plunged temperatures 45 degrees in 24 hours from 47 degrees at noon on the 30th to only 2 degrees at noon on the 31st. North winds were sustained to 30 mph on the 30th. Snowfall was only 0.8 inch on the 31st.
In 1965…a major storm dumped 10.4 inches of snow over metro Denver. After 5 inches of snow fell in Boulder… Strong Chinook winds developed…warming the temperature 25 degrees in 90 minutes. Wind gusts to 97 mph were recorded on Table Mountain in Boulder. Winds gusts to 53 mph were measured in downtown Boulder where some damage occurred. Minor wind damage also occurred in western suburbs of Denver. West winds gusted to 51 mph at Stapleton International Airport on the 31st.
In 2005…a winter storm brought heavy snow to the Front Range foothills. Storm totals included: 17 inches at Aspen Springs…13 inches 7 miles southwest of Boulder and at Lake Eldora…12.5 inches near Blackhawk…11.5 inches at Rollinsville and near Nederland…11 inches near Evergreen and Golden and at Gross Reservoir…and 10 inches at Cabin Creek. Lesser amounts of snow fell over the city. Only 1.9 inches of snow were measured overnight at Denver Stapleton. North winds gusted to 30 mph at Denver International Airport…where freezing fog during the early morning of the 30th reduced the surface visibility to as low as 1/8 mile. Light rainfall… Rare in January…totaled 0.06 inch at Denver Stapleton on the early morning of the 30th.
30-7
In 1985…a cold front on the 29th produced a protracted cold spell as arctic air remained entrenched across metro Denver. While the only daily temperature record set was a low maximum reading of 2 degrees on February 3rd…minimum temperatures plunged well below zero on 9 consecutive days. The coldest readings were 15 degrees below zero on January 31st and 14 degrees below zero on February 5th.
The Thornton Community Chorus will join the Thornton Community Band as one more cultural offering in the city.
Supported by the Thornton Arts, Sciences and Humanities Council (TASHCO), Thornton will soon be playing host to its own choir group – the Thornton Community Chorus. The chorus joins the relatively new Thornton Community Band and form a duo of extraordinary cultural offerings for area residents.
According to the Thornton Community Chorus’ website, they will be working to establish a performing chorus of adults in the north metro area. Currently in the formation stage is looking for organizers, musicians and supporters. Be sure to check out their website for more information at www.thorntoncommunitychorus.org.
We would be remiss to not also mention the Thornton Community Band. The band formed a bit over a year ago and has been a tremendous hit. If you have not heard them perform, you are truly missing out on hearing some extraordinary musicians. Their next concert is March 4th so please visit their website to learn more at www.thorntonband.webs.com.
While obviously not a weather-related story, we feel that both of these offerings bring new opportunities to not only the performers but citizens as well. We encourage everyone to take advantage and enjoy some music!
January 24 to January 30 - This week in Denver weather history
Denver and Colorado weather is rarely boring. This week in Denver weather history we see numerous occurrences of Chinook winds that warmed temperatures but also arrived with such force that they caused a great deal of damage. We also see unseasably warm weather, bitter Arctic cold, and snow fall that had to be measured in feet.
18-24
In 2005…a week of mid-winter unseasonably warm weather pushed high temperatures into the 60’s or more on all but one day. During the period…the highest temperature of 70 degrees on the 20th was a new record maximum for the date. Low temperatures remained above freezing on 4 of the days.
22-26
In 1948…the longest period of snowfall on record (92 hours and 3 minutes) occurred in downtown Denver where a total of 13.6 inches of snow fell. At Stapleton Airport…19.0 inches of snow fell…making it the heaviest snow in January and the 5th heaviest snow of record at that time. North winds were sustained to a velocity of 23 mph on the 25th…but generally the winds were light throughout the storm. The snow disrupted traffic…but street clearing was begun soon after it became apparent that the snow would be heavy. Over the 5 days…temperatures ranged from a high of 48 degrees on the 22nd to a low of 1 degree on the 26th. Most readings were in the teens and 20’s during the storm.
23-24
In 1921…heavy snowfall in downtown Denver totaled 8.0 inches overnight. Northwest winds were sustained to 22 mph with gusts to 25 mph on the 24th.
24
In 1887…west winds sustained to 44 mph warmed the temperature to a high of 56 degrees in the city.
In 1890…northwest winds sustained to 48 mph with gusts to 60 mph warmed the temperature to a high of 63 degrees.
In 1900…west winds were sustained to 44 mph with an extreme velocity of 46 mph. The Chinook winds warmed the temperature to a high of 57 degrees.
In 1934…a trace of snowfall resulted in precipitation of 0.01 inch in downtown Denver. This was the only measurable amount of precipitation for the month…making the month one of the driest January’s on record.
In 1956…west-northwest winds gusted to 51 mph at Stapleton Airport. Strong and gusty winds persisted throughout the day.
In 1972…a west wind gust to 92 mph was recorded in Boulder at the National Bureau of Standards…while in downtown Boulder a wind gust to only 66 mph was measured.
In Denver…a car was demolished when the wind blew a traffic light pole onto it…and a wooden wall at a construction site was blown over damaging two cars. Northwest winds gusted to 55 mph at Stapleton International Airport.
In 1982…strong winds were again reported along the eastern foothills. While the most damage occurred in the Fort Collins area…Boulder did not entirely escape. Nine planes were damaged at the Boulder airport along with 4 mobile homes and many cars in the Boulder area. A school in Central City was damaged. A water tank in Parker collapsed. The strongest wind gust recorded was 140 mph at Wondervu. Wind gusts reached 92 mph in Boulder. Northwest wind gusts to 61 mph were recorded at Stapleton International Airport.
In 1992…for the third day…high winds raked the eastern foothills. Winds gusted to 105 mph at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder. Several tractor trailers were overturned along State Highway 93…between Boulder and Golden. Traffic lights and signs were knocked down in Boulder. Other wind reports included: 86 mph at Rocky Flats…100 mph on Fritz Peak near Rollinsville…and 93 mph in north Boulder. West winds gusted to 37 mph at Stapleton International Airport.
Venezuela's state run media is reporting that the United States used a devastating new 'earthquake weapon' to cause the earthquake that struck Haiti last week. (Examiner.com)
Unbeknownst to the world, the United States has a new weapon that was responsible for last week’s magnitude 7.0 earthquake in Haiti and the May 2008 earthquake in Sichuan, China that killed 90,000 people. That of course is a ridiculous statement but the claim was nevertheless made on Venezuela’s ViVe TV, the official news outlet of the nation’s dictator, Hugo Chavez.
According to the report, not only can this devastating weapon cause earthquakes, it can also “create weather anomalies to cause floods, droughts and hurricanes.” The claims are based on a supposed report from Russia’s Northern Fleet which has been monitoring United States Navy activity and documented the new device.
ViVe TV says the earthquake in Haiti was the result of the U.S. Navy testing this new weapon and the United States was aware that it could cause damage. Despite this, ViVe says the U.S. proceed with the test and “had pre-positioned their Commander Southern Command Officer, Gen. PK Keen, on the island to oversee relief efforts if needed.”
This image from the IPCC's AR4 report was included with claims of Himalayan glaciers disappearing by 2035. That claim has now been disproven. The image also shows that glacial retreat was occuring long before the industrial age. (IPCC)
Just three years ago, the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) made the stark claim that it was “very likely” that Himalayan glaciers would disappear by 2035. In a blow to its credibility, the IPCC was forced to acknowledge this week that the assertion was incorrect despite being oft repeated by its leaders.
The claim was contained in the IPCC’s seminal “AR4” report that was issued in 2007, the same year the panel and Al Gore won Nobel Peace Prizes for their work combating anthropogenic global warming. The document has served as a guide to policymakers in their efforts to force heavy regulation of carbon dioxide emissions.
The passage in question said, “Glaciers in the Himalaya are receding faster than in any other part of the world and, if the present rate continues, the likelihood of them disappearing by the year 2035 and perhaps sooner is very high if the Earth keeps warming at the current rate.”
Concerns of glacial retreat have been used to provide an exclamation point on the claims that action must be taken immediately to stem man’s purported influence on the climate. According to the IPCC’s methodology, “very likely” is meant to have a 90% or greater chance of occurring. With millions of people in Asia relying on glacial ice for their water supply, the threat was considered to be great.
The claim was said to reference a study by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), a global environmental advocacy group performed in 2005. The WWF’s study in turn cited a 1999 story in New Scientist that contained the claim.
New Scientist had interviewed Dr. Syed Hasnain who was working at Jawaharlal Nehru University in Delhi at the time. No quote is attributed to Hasnain where he mentioned the 2035 date although it appears in the narrative of the story. Earlier this month, Hasnain said that the statement was pure “speculation” and not based in scientific fact.
A magnitude 4.1 earthquake struck northern New Mexico early Monday morning. The temblor was felt as far away as Trinidad, Colorado. (USGS)
A magnitude 4.1 earthquake struck northern New Mexico west of Raton early this morning and was felt as far away as Trinidad, Colorado. The U.S. Geological Survey says that the temblor’s epicenter was 16 miles west of Raton and originated 3.1 miles underground.
No damage from the quake that occurred at 1:41am on Monday morning has been reported. While a magnitude 4.1 quake is not a major quake, had it struck in a more densely populated area it would have been sufficient to knock items off of shelves.
While normally not particularly active, there are approximately 100 potentially active faults in Colorado and more than 400 temblors of magnitude 2.5 have occurred in the state since 1870. The state’s largest quake occurred on November 7, 1882 along the northern Front Range and measured 6.5 on the Richter Scale.
According to the Colorado Division of Emergency Management, the costliest quake was a 5.3 magnitude temblor that occurred on August 9, 1967 and was centered near Commerce City. The quake caused more than $1 million worth of damage and is thought to have been caused by the injection of liquid waste into the earth at the Rocky Mountain Arsenal.
The Sangre de Christo Fault, near which the quake occurred, is located in the mountain range for which it is named and runs more than 110 miles from the New Mexico border north into Colorado. In 2001 an earthquake “swarm” shook the area near Trinidad on the fault. During that event, from August 28 and September 21 of that year, 12 earthquakes of magnitude 2.8 to 4.6 struck just west of the southern Colorado city in the same area as Monday’s quake.
January 17 to January 23 - This week in Denver weather history
Chinook winds in January oftentimes bring welcome warmth to the Front Range. They can however be more of a curse than a blessing as at times they can reach hurricane strength and do extensive damage. Looking back at this week in Denver weather history, we see many such occurrences.
14-21
In 1930…a protracted cold spell occurred when low temperatures plunged below zero on 8 consecutive days. The coldest low temperatures of 20 degrees below zero on the 17th and 19 degrees below zero on the 16th were record minimums for the dates. High temperatures during the period ranged from 18 on the 18th to zero on the 20th. Two degrees on the 15th was a record low maximum temperature for the date.
15-23
In 1962…a protracted cold spell kept metro Denver in the deep freeze for more than a week. From the 15th thru the 23rd…low temperatures were zero or below for 9 consecutive days…but a daily record low was set only on the 22nd when the temperature dipped to 14 degrees below zero. A record low maximum for the date was also set on the 22nd when the temperature climbed to only 11 degrees. The coldest high temperature was 3 degrees above zero on the 21st…which did not break the record. The protracted cold was broken for only a few hours on the afternoon of the 20th when Chinook winds warmed the temperature to a high of 38 degrees before another surge of cold arctic air plunged temperatures back into the deep freeze that evening. The severe cold caused much damage to water systems. A woman was frozen to death at Morrison. There were other deaths attributable to the weather…including traffic deaths and heart attacks from overexertion.
16-17
In 1886…a brief cold spell resulted in two temperature records. High temperatures of zero degrees on the 16th and 2 degrees below zero on the 17th were both record low maximums for the dates. Low temperatures of 8 degrees below zero on the 16th and 16 degrees below zero on the 17th were not records.
In 1930…temperatures plunging well below zero resulted in two records. Low temperatures of 19 degrees below zero on the 16th and 20 degrees below zero on the 17th were record low temperatures for the dates. High temperatures were 4 degrees on the 16th and 15 degrees on the 17th. Light snowfall totaled 4.0 inches. North winds were sustained to 18 mph on the 16th.
In 1964…high winds struck the eastern foothills. Gale velocity winds were recorded in Boulder with gusts to 83 mph measured at Rocky Flats. Several airplanes were damaged at the Jefferson County Airport in Broomfield. Roofs…walls…and parts of buildings were blown away at various locations. Power poles and trees were blown over.
16-18
In 1943…light snowfall totaled 3.2 inches over the 3 days. This was the only measurable snow of the month. North winds were sustained to 20 mph on the 16th.
