As Christmas gets closer everyone always wonders if we are going to get the proverbial white Christmas. Unfortunately, if you look at Denver and Thornton weather history, the chances arent all that good but it also depends on what you define as a white Christmas. December just isnt that snowy of a month, ranking as only the fourth snowiest (behind March, November and April) so historically we have a bit of a disadvantage.
For a complete look at Denver’s Christmas weather statistics, click here.
If you can, get out of work early today as the roads are sure to be a mess during rush hour. Snow has been falling across the Front Range all day and snow totals for the metro area are in the 2 to 4 inch range. Probably just as notable is the bitter cold we are seeing – at 1:00pm DIA was showing 17 degrees and a wind chill of only 2 degrees. Denver’s high temperature today will most likely be 22 degrees but that was reached at 1:00am! The wind will continue to keep the wind chills down around zero so bundle up if you head out.
The snow will continue through 11:00pm although accumulations will be pretty light. The north, west and southern suburbs could see up to 6 inches of snow while the central metro area will end up with around 2 to 4 inches. Areas of Larimer and Weld Counties including Fort Collins and Greeley will see between 5 to 10 inches of snow.
A Winter Weather Advisory is in effect for the I-25 corridor north of Longmont as well as most of the central and northern mountains areas. The extreme eastern portions of the state are under an advisory as well. In the mountains, eastbound I-70 has chain restrictions in place at the Eisenhower Tunnel, Loveland Pass and at Vail.
Tonight we will dip into the single digits but Friday brings us back into the 40’s and the weekend looks great.
The snow arrived overnight and as of 5:00am ThorntonWeather.com had measured 1.3” and it was still coming down pretty good. Due to the extreme cold – 17 degrees and a windchill of 5 degrees as of this writing – the roads are quite slick. This morning we found residential streets to be the worst of course but main arterials like 120th Ave were not in too good of shape either. Please allow plenty of time to get the kids to school and yourselves to work, allow plenty of distance between you and other cars and just take your time.
A surge of cold air from the north is expected to intensify the snowfall in the coming hours and a bit of upslope will keep the flakes falling for most of the day. Accumulations though won’t be all that great – look for 2 to 4 inches overall. Snow will taper off this evening from the north to the south and completely end in the metro area around midnight.
Friday and this weekend are shaping up great but that could be short lived. We are watching a cold front coming from Montana that could bring more cold and snow toward the first part of next week.
December brings with it the official start to winter and at the same time we find ourselves hoping we get moisture in the near future. As of this writing, the mountain snowpack in all basins are well below normal, with some as low as 27% of normal. Here in town our our annual snowfall is well below normal as well. In Colorado the snow season starts on July 1st and between that date and November 30th, Denver averages 16.9 inches of snow. Thus far, ThorntonWeather.com has measured a meager 0.2 inch and the official total for Denver taken at the site of the old Stapleton International Aiport stands at 0.8 inch!
So what can we expect in the coming month? Click here to read our December 2008 climate and weather preview to find out!