Tag Archives: national weather service

Climatology, Thornton Weather

Snow on Halloween more fact than fiction

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Snow on Halloween? Popular belief is that we seem to have a lot of snow when the trick or treaters are out on the street.
Snow on Halloween? Popular belief is that we seem to have a lot of snow when the trick or treaters are out on the street.

Conventional wisdom in the Denver area is that it always seems to rain or snow on Halloween.   I know as a kid it seemed like Mother Nature always put a damper on our trick or treating. 

But, is there any truth to this urban legend?  Or is this just one of those times where our memory doesn’t serve us quite right? 

This year it certainly looks like we have nothing to worry about but  the National Weather Service has been kind enough to compile weather statistics just for Halloween.  As it turns out, the thought of snow and rain on Octboer 31st isn’t just in our minds! 

Click here to read all about Halloween and Denver’s historical chances of snow.

Colorado Weather, Thornton Weather, Weather Education

What are those zones?

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National Weather ServiceRecently we were asked what are the “zones” that the National Weather Service uses and what is their purpose. This is a very good question.

The National Weather Service in Boulder breaks down Colorado (and other states) into various zones for use when issuing forecasts, watches, warnings, etc. If you look at the text of these, you will see something like this:

SHORT TERM FORECAST
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DENVER CO
1125 AM MDT MON JUL 07 2008

COZ040-041-043-045-071930-

Notice the part in bold. That tells you which zones are affected by the warning – in this case, the CO of course means Colorado.  The “Z” part tells you zones 40, 41, 43 and 45 are affected. So what zone do you live in? In general, if you are in the Denver metro area, you are in either zone 39 or zone 40. You can click here for a PDF map of all Colorado zones.

Colorado Weather, Severe Weather, Thornton Weather

Area King Soopers Offers Discounted Weather Radio

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All Hazards NOAA Weather RadioWe recently wrote about systems which provide severe weather alerts to the general public.  In writing that, we extolled the virtues of having a “weather radio” – a specialty radio that allows you to listen to and monitor the NOAA Weather Radio All Hazards (NWR) system.

Midland WR-100 Weather RadioWe just read on KMGH channel 7’s website that all Front Range area King Soopers are offering a very good deal on a Midland WR-100 radio.  These are similar to the WR-300 model we discussed previously – just with fewer bells and whistles.  The WR-100 retails for $49.99 but through September at area King Soopers stores you can buy one for $29.99. 

You can find more information on channel 7’s website including a list of area King Soopers stores and even a video that walks you through how to set the radio up.  This is a great deal and we would encourage everyone to take advantage of it.