STORM2K

It's been snowing in the mountains, but look at the current temperatures:



It's weird to be snowing when it is this warm.

Yeah the mountains around Telluride had some snow at what looked to be around 10,000+ feet. My brother's family were vacationing there and posted some photos on Facebook.

ravyrn wrote:Yeah the mountains around Telluride had some snow at what looked to be around 10,000+ feet. My brother's family were vacationing there and posted some photos on Facebook.

I was in Telluride 2 weeks ago. The snow line was probably around 12,500. We hiked to 10,500 and there was no snow at that elevation.

Would you say this summer has been snowier or less snowy than an average summer on the Colorado peaks?

Scott Patterson wrote:It's been snowing in the mountains, but look at the current temperatures:



It's weird to be snowing when it is this warm.

I know the elevation is about 12,000 feet, but the temp was 45 degrees, so how can there be heavy snow falling?

Just a theory on my part, but 'snow' at that temperature is mostly liquid and slush rather than ice. I would imagine that would make the flakes larger and lead to the 'heavy snow' marker. I don't know what the snow rates were.

BTW, Scott, can I say I hate you some times? lol

Would you say this summer has been snowier or less snowy than an average summer on the Colorado peaks?

It's hard to say since the storms have been so hit and miss and some areas have stayed wet, while others dry. June was definitely dry around where I live, but it began to get wetter in late July. Plus there are very few weather stations in the high mountains that record snowfall. This year seems a bit average to me, though it has been wet the last few weeks.

On Pikes Peak, there are weather averages available:

http://www.summitpost.org/pikes-peak-we ... ics/337874

July averages 7 days of snow, but I'm not sure how many times it snowed this year.

BTW, Scott, can I say I hate you some times? lol

Come winter, we can switch the hatin'. Here's a random screenshot:

I know the elevation is about 12,000 feet, but the temp was 45 degrees, so how can there be heavy snow falling?

It does happen in summer, but it is fairly unusual and weird to be that warm when snowing.

The article below does mention the Colorado Mountains specifically as a place where it does happen:

http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/weather/ ... snow_x.htm

A: Snow at 46 degrees isn't out of the question. Below is the answer I did for a question similar to yours about four years ago. The snow expert I consulted once saw snow at 50 degrees, but he notes that such snow is more likely at high elevations, such as in Colorado.

gboudx wrote:

ravyrn wrote:Yeah the mountains around Telluride had some snow at what looked to be around 10,000+ feet. My brother's family were vacationing there and posted some photos on Facebook.

I was in Telluride 2 weeks ago. The snow line was probably around 12,500. We hiked to 10,500 and there was no snow at that elevation.

It snowed on the stretch of mountain in the back left of the picture. That is an elevation of around 10,000 feet and up.

I don't think the snow/slush has time to melt completely at that height, so you can see snow with a temperature in the 40s.

ravyrn wrote:
It snowed on the stretch of mountain in the back left of the picture. That is an elevation of around 10,000 feet and up.

All of the San Miquel's in Telluride are over 10,000', so no argument from me on the elevation. However, there was no snow at 10,000'. We were at 10,500' and it was in the 70's with no snow. My brother-in-law and his family did a truck tour that took them to the peaks at over 13,000' and they did pass snow on the way. But the snow was above 12,000'. I could post a pic I took at 10,500' looking up where you can see snow. The snow melt was almost over though. We did a rafting excursion and the guides told us that was the last week because the flow was becoming so shallow.

gboudx wrote:

ravyrn wrote:
It snowed on the stretch of mountain in the back left of the picture. That is an elevation of around 10,000 feet and up.

All of the San Miquel's in Telluride are over 10,000', so no argument from me on the elevation. However, there was no snow at 10,000'. We were at 10,500' and it was in the 70's with no snow. My brother-in-law and his family did a truck tour that took them to the peaks at over 13,000' and they did pass snow on the way. But the snow was above 12,000'. I could post a pic I took at 10,500' looking up where you can see snow. The snow melt was almost over though. We did a rafting excursion and the guides told us that was the last week because the flow was becoming so shallow.

I get that there was not snow at that elevation while you were in Telluride. The photo I posted was taken July 30th. It was during a coldspell as some storms moved into the area. The mountain with snow on it in the background clearly shows snow beginning at an elevation of starting around 10,000 feet. I'm sure it melted within 24 hours. I grew up in the nearby La Platas and am very familiar with the area.

While not common, snow at those elevations can occur during any of the summer months. Our place north of Mancos in the La Platas at an elevation of 9000 feet would occasionally see snow during June, July, or August every few summers. Generally though, we'd more often get what we called popcorn snow which I believe the official meteorological term would be graupel.

The kids and I got nailed by a rain, hail, and snowstorm last Saturday. The precip wasn't bad, but the lightning was scary (the weather forecast was good). Anyway, here's a photograph:



This was only a short time before, so it really came in fast:

very cool photographs above and what a view on that second photograph!

Here's a webcam shot from Leadville as of right now: