Blizzard in Colorado

[brunota2003]

in that situation...I would call into the airport and check, someone there is bound to know. Enjoy your snow...lucky...the most I've seen is a foot...

[BreinLa]

Just heard on the news scheduled flights will go on those stranded now will be next in line.

[Stephanie]

Thanks PT for all of your updates. Good luck with your flight - I hope your flight takes off pretty close to schedule.

My father said that he received a foot and a half of snow down in Rye. He called it light and fluffy so it was easy to shovel. His girlfriend also lives in Denver, but further outside of downtown. When he spoke to her today she had 27" of snow and it was still snowing. That goes right along with what you said PT.

Be careful!!

[f5]

its very ugly for the commute but the mountain snowpack its welcome drought relief for the farmers after a very toasty summer

[Stephanie]

its very ugly for the commute but the mountain snowpack its welcome drought relief for the farmers after a very toasty summer

Absolutely! They've been high and dry for many years. Last year was a decent year for them as well, but it melted too fast this past spring.

I hope it's a good sign of things to come for them out there in the West.

[Lindaloo]

The tax lawyer we use in Clear Creek told me today this was only the 4th blizzard in Colorado history. He was digging his car out while he was talking to me on his cell phone.

[f5]

Las Vegas's explosive population growth is using more Colorado river than what the rockies can put out and thats causing the river to run low with the added drought.not ony is it las vegas but all the farming so we got a battle on 3 fronts drought vs the city of Las Vegas vs the hay/citrus farmers and the loser is the river itself

[PTPatrick]

I am sure this the not the 4th blizzard ever. There have been MANY...however, at 24'' inches in Denver this ties for the 4th worst spot with the bilzzard of 82, behind the blizzard of 2003 and 1913, which each dropped 34'' and 40+ respictively(There is a 3rd i dont remember). There have been a laudnry list of 16-22 inch storms in the front range. Denver is relatively used to storms of this magnatude. This is just particularly crippling because unlike the blizzard of 03 which dropped 3 feet in 4 days, this storm dropped 2 ft in about 30 hrs. For the majority of the day Wednesday and Wednesday night snow was coming down at 1-2 inches per hour...It was NUTS. Plows couldnt keep up with that. Not even at DIA...which was dubbed storm proof when it was built...well, 1997 shut it down, and 2003 shut it down and now 2006 has...Guess it isnt storm proof.


meanwhile Lindaloo, pray I get to Gulfport tomorrow. I have to be at the airport tonight at 1 for my 6 AM flight It took me all night to find a ride because my original ride was snowed in, and neither Parking there at the airport nor shuttles were an option(parking lots are closed out there and the shuttles and cabs all booked). So I had a ticket in hand and no way to get to the airport. Fortunately a friend of a friend is driving me....

[Stephanie]

Good luck PT!!

[Yankeegirl]

BUMP.... Figured I would bump this so we can get a link to those web cams to see Denver get hit again!!

[Stephanie]

This is unreal!

Well, they've been praying for snow/water for a good while now. Looks like they're getting it. I just hope that in the spring it doesn't melt away as quickly as it did last year.

[AL Chili Pepper]

Wow! I was just checking out the observations at Springfield, CO and at one point they had 2.62 inches of precipitation in a 3 hour time span. Could that be all snow? That would be over 2 feet! Temperature was in the mid 20s.

http://www.crh.noaa.gov/data/obhistory/KSPD.html

From the NWS (Springfield is in Baca county)

BLIZZARD CONDITIONS WILL CONTINUE ACROSS THE PLAINS OF SOUTHEAST COLORADO THROUGH EARLY SUNDAY. VISIBILITIES WERE DOWN TO 1/4 OF A MILE IN MANY LOCATIONS AND WINDS WERE GUSTING TO 35 TO 50 MPH. REPORTS FROM THE EMERGENCY OFFICIAL INDICATE SNOW DRIFTS WERE IN EXCESS OF 4 TO 8 FEET ACROSS KIOWA AND BACA COUNTIES.

[JonathanBelles]

wow i'd hate to live in denver .

[bob rulz]

Wow! I was just checking out the observations at Springfield, CO and at one point they had 2.62 inches of precipitation in a 3 hour time span. Could that be all snow? That would be over 2 feet!

That's unlikely to be 2 feet. Snow out there isn't as high in moisture content as it is out east (not normally, at least). It's probably closer to 16-18 inches or so. Still, that's an amazing amount of snow for 3 hours! It could even be less snow than that if it's really fluffy.

And I would LOVE to be in the Denver area right now!

[PTPatrick]

Most people would be very surprised at how mild Denver REALLY is. It has gotten a lot of press for this snow storm and well, snow happens. At 5280 ft and a mid latitude like that they are going to get snow. Denverites with their higher average snowfall that many midwest cities(like Minneapolis, Madison, and Chicago) get something those cities dont get in the dead of winter, strong sunlight. Also a great deal of that 60 inches falls in October and March when the sun realy does a number on the snow. I had 2 4-6 snowfalls this past october that were litterally melting away before eyes by 10:00 the next day when the sun comes out. It was not until this blizzard that snow really stuck on the roads good. I love that we get lots of white stuff with only the occasional true inconvenience like out neighbors to the east. And having lived in FL and growing up in MS, I will take a couple months of snow cover and temps in the upper 30's and 40s any day over long summers with humidity and biting insects. Not to mention hurricanes and tropical storms. BUt then again, and I am a cold weather lover at heart.

[cpdaman]

those obs. were INACCURATE

"the mountains don't have as a high a moisture content out east"

umm i think what your saying is for every inch of rain equalivent to snow;

out east usually would be wetter (not as powdery snow) and likely equal less than a foot say 5-10 inches

HOWEVER this observation is in the mountains where it is colder and if they were to actually have 2.62 inches in a 3 hour period it would be GREATER than the 1inch =1 foot ratio because of the cold at that elevation

SO that report is bogus otherwise they would have had about 40 inches of snow in 3 hours (and looking at the obs from days after that they would have had 3 total periods where they got over 2 inches of liquid equivelant within 3 hours (didn't happen)

[f5]

Mt baker around thanksgiving had 150 inches of snow in one week

[Stephanie]

My father always tells me that the snows melt away fast out there and it's because of the higher elevation/drier air/closer proximity to the sun. The water content evaporates faster under these conditions.

In the east our air is always more humid so the ice, slush and snow stick around alot longer. It only goes away quickly when there's a warm up.

[TexasStooge]

Colorado woman selling snow on eBay

LOVELAND, Colo. (AP) - Call it a winter sale. Jim and Mary Walker are selling snow on eBay. Starting bids were holding steady Friday at 99 cents for samples from "Blizzard I and Blizzard II."

The Walkers got the idea for selling snow after shoveling mounds from two storms a week apart that together dumped more than 4 feet along the Front Range.

Full Story Here
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Oh, just deliver a whole box of snow to Texas.

[bob rulz]

those obs. were INACCURATE

"the mountains don't have as a high a moisture content out east"

umm i think what your saying is for every inch of rain equalivent to snow;

out east usually would be wetter (not as powdery snow) and likely equal less than a foot say 5-10 inches

HOWEVER this observation is in the mountains where it is colder and if they were to actually have 2.62 inches in a 3 hour period it would be GREATER than the 1inch =1 foot ratio because of the cold at that elevation

SO that report is bogus otherwise they would have had about 40 inches of snow in 3 hours (and looking at the obs from days after that they would have had 3 total periods where they got over 2 inches of liquid equivelant within 3 hours (didn't happen)

Springfield, Colorado isn't in the mountains, though.