Big cool down

[Scott Patterson]

It was 72F today (low of 20F), but changes are on the way:

http://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick.ph ... 107.55&e=1

Looks like we'll only have a high around 40 Wednesday. The low is supposed to be ~10F, but we usually get a little colder here than downtown. I'm guessing we'll be +2 to +7F, but if it does drop below zero by chance, it will be the earliest subzero temp since we've lived here (seven years).

So far our coldest temp of the season was October 19 with 17F at the official station downtown and 14F at the house, so either way, we'll break it this week.

[Turtle]

Wow that's really cold. I checked your cities averages, and your mean temp is already 40. Mine is 46 in the heart of winter! Have you gotten any snow this past month?

[Scott Patterson]

Yes, it snowed October 7.

Average high for tomorrow is 55 and the average low is 23, so tomorrow will be cooler than normal.

[ravyrn]

Scott share some pics with us if you get any snow out of the storm passing through. We Southerners at times forget what the white stuff looks like

[Scott Patterson]

Scott share some pics with us if you get any snow out of the storm passing through.

The snow missed us (at least so far), but undoubtable the mountains got pounded. We currently have rain and 34F here. It's close to snowing, but it's still rain (with maybe a few wet flakes). The cold air and precipitation didn't arrive at the same time, so we just had a lot of rain all night. It looks like it will clear up before the cooler weather gets here (it's supposed to be 10F tonight), though there is a 40% chance of (not much) snow today. Places on the Front Range, such as the normally warmer Fort Collins and parts of Denver areas did get a good snow.

It's supposed to be sunny and warm again for the weekend with nights just above 20F and days in the mid-50's.

[Scott Patterson]

It started snowing just after I made my last post. There wasn't too much in town, but I took this photo on my way to work:

[Tstormwatcher]

Scott, why does it get so cold at night there even when you are up near 60 during the day? Are you in a deep valley or something like that?

[Scott Patterson]

Scott, why does it get so cold at night there even when you are up near 60 during the day? Are you in a deep valley or something like that?

Today was only 43F, but the reasons for the large ranges sometimes are low humidity and the cold air sinks off the mountains and settles along the river valleys. I've seen it be 8F in the morning and 80F in the afternoon. In summer and fall we can have really wide temperature swings. We are really prone to inversions as well.

At the Craig-Moffat Airport (in the valley bottom), temperatures have ranged from -56F to 100F. In the hills, the temperature swings are less. The Craig 4SW station at the Trapper Mine is much milder at night and temps have never dropped below -41F there, even though temps like that are very common in the valley and where all the people live. Some weather data websites use the Craig 4SW station, which is very misleading since it is much milder at night than in town or in the surrounding areas.

Maybell, just west of us even has bigger swings than around here. Temps there have ranged from -61F to 102F.

Anyway, as an example here's a screen shot I took of the official temperatures at the airport on one (not all that uncommon) summer day:

We had a low of 37F and a high of 97F, which is a big range, but check out just how fast the temperature can rise once the sun comes up.

At 5:53 it was 39.9F and three hours later was 70 F. In another three hours it was 90F.

[Tstormwatcher]

Thanks for the answer. That temp swing is amazing.

[vbhoutex]

Those temperature swings are incredible!!

[jerry0503222]

Wow that's really cold. I checked your cities averages, and your mean temp is already 40. Mine is 46 in the heart of winter! Have you gotten any snow this past month?







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[ravyrn]

Isn't the lowest temp recorded in Colorado out of Maybell? It's been 20 years, but I did a Social Studies project for the Social Studies Fair at my elementary school on Colorado, and if I recall, the lowest recorded temp in the state at the time (This must've been 1992) was in Maybell, but I remember it being -64 F.

[Scott Patterson]

Yes, the record low in Colorado is Maybell (the next little town west of us). It was -61F on Feb 1 1985. It was the only day in history that the schools were closed since the school buses would not start, even in a heated garage. Other than on that day, the schools have never closed in over 100 years.