Boulder, CO has the best winters in the country. It usually snows a half dozen times, but when it's not snowing it's 50 degrees and sunny so you can partake in both summer and winter activities. I've never gone more than a week without training on my bike outside during the winter until now. My layman's explanation is a Low pressure cycle that has set up with new Lows coming about every 7 to 10 days. The Low pressure systems bring with them moisture, wind, and cold temps. The Rocky Mountains usually squeeze most of the moisture out before the Lows get to the Front Range (i.e. Boulder) giving us our mild winters. The Front Range does get large amounts of snow when Lows coming from the West meet moisture flowing up from the Gulf of Mexico creating an upslope pattern. This has been happening on a weekly basis for the past 6 weeks. You can see the next Low (the one over the Idaho/Wyoming border) headed our direction below.
Last week we got hit with the worst windstorm I've ever been in. Reports of gusts up to 118 mph, which are equivalent to a Category 3 Hurricane, were rumored at Jefferson County Airport. I was driving home from Jo's in the peak of it, roads closest to the mountains (and my neighborhood) were closed so my normal 15 minute drive took and hour and half. There were a couple times I thought my truck was going to get blown over - unfortunately I didn't have my camera with me. The wind shattered my landlords picture window sending glass, snow, and 70mph winds into their kitchen. Not a pleasant way to wake up! You can see the windstorm highlighted in this weekly wind speed plot below. It's taken from a weather station in my neighborhood. Red lines are sustained speed, blue lines are gusts, and each horizontal line is 10 miles per hour. The peak gust, highlighted, is 78mph.
Here are some pics from the past couple weeks:
The Flat Irons
Molly Dog in Heaven
The Airport
Last week we got hit with the worst windstorm I've ever been in. Reports of gusts up to 118 mph, which are equivalent to a Category 3 Hurricane, were rumored at Jefferson County Airport. I was driving home from Jo's in the peak of it, roads closest to the mountains (and my neighborhood) were closed so my normal 15 minute drive took and hour and half. There were a couple times I thought my truck was going to get blown over - unfortunately I didn't have my camera with me. The wind shattered my landlords picture window sending glass, snow, and 70mph winds into their kitchen. Not a pleasant way to wake up! You can see the windstorm highlighted in this weekly wind speed plot below. It's taken from a weather station in my neighborhood. Red lines are sustained speed, blue lines are gusts, and each horizontal line is 10 miles per hour. The peak gust, highlighted, is 78mph.
Here are some pics from the past couple weeks:
The Flat Irons
Molly Dog in Heaven
The Airport
3 comments:
Living that close to NCAR has turned you into a real meterologist! Nice photo of the flatirons.
The weather has been horific all over the country. Here in Los Angeles.... it dipped into the 50's yesterday. No one should have to endure such hell.
!!!!
hmmm... and absolutely no snow in Moscow....))))
strange!
nice!
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