The recent storm was certainly far less than impressive in reality. Thornton recorded a mere 3.6″ of snow and our seasonal snowfall totals continue to lag well below average.
However, when you take 24 hours of pictures taken at one minute intervals and combine them all into a single video you end up with a pretty neat 48 second time lapse. Below are videos from each of our webcams covering the period from noon on Wednesday, February 20 to noon on Wednesday, February 21.
The meteorological winter starts on December 1 and Old Man Winter is making sure we know he is around. Two snowstorms have hit Thornton in a three day span and more snow is on the way.
On Thursday the first storm brought 5.1 inches to Thornton. Denver officially recorded 5.7 inches at Denver International Airport (DIA).
Shortly before midnight last night, the snow began falling again and continued through noon. Here in Thornton we recorded 4.9 inches with the latest system.
It is interesting to note that this brings our seasonal snowfall total to 24.5 inches. For comparison, we recorded a dismal 21.2 inches during all of the last season! In an average season, December received 61.7 inches.
Yet another storm system is on its way and is expected to arrive tomorrow evening. Right now it isn’t look near as impressive as the last two but Thornton may see another inch or two out of it.
Over the longer term, colder than normal temperatures are expected to last through this week. The first half should be dry but Thursday night into Friday we may see snow again. Long range models looking even further ahead predict colder than normal temperatures to last through the first half of the month.
Below is time lapse video from our webcams capturing last night’s storm. Each take 14 hours and compress them into 30 seconds.
To say today’s snowstorm was a fast mover doesn’t do it justice. The storm hit fast and furious and many doubted our forecasts for only light snowfall. But, as quickly as it arrived the winter storm departed and the event was over by nightfall.
In a span of three hours or so Thornton received 1.2 inches of snow. Of course it is a bummer to have to withstand the traffic problems caused by a storm that brought so little. To top it off we now have to wash our cars which hadn’t been clean but for a few days. Not much return for the hassle, even if we need the moisture. 🙂
The time lapse video below captures the entire event from start to finish and does it in about 9 seconds.