The last “storm” was something of a bust, but this one is sounding a scosh more dire. (Bolding mine.)
URGENT – WINTER WEATHER MESSAGE
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DENVER CO
422 AM MDT FRI APR 3 2009…HEAVY SNOW AND STRONG WINDS ON THE WAY FOR THE HIGH COUNTRY AND STILL POSSIBLE FOR THE NORTHEAST PLAINS OF COLORADO…
.A POWERFUL WINTER-LIKE STORM SYSTEM ORGANIZING IN THE GREAT BASIN TODAY IS FORECAST TO TRACK EAST ACROSS SOUTHERN WYOMING AND NORTHERN COLORADO TONIGHT AND OUT ACROSS THE NORTH CENTRAL HIGH PLAINS ON SATURDAY. THOUGH THE PRECISE PATH OF THIS STORM REMAINS UNCERTAIN…IT NOW APPEAR THAT THE MOUNTAINS OF NORTH CENTRAL COLORADO WILL LIKELY SEE HEAVY SNOWFALL…STRONG WINDS AND CONSIDERABLE BLOWING AND DRIFTING SNOW TONIGHT THROUGH SATURDAY. THE HIGH MOUNTAIN VALLEYS WILL ALSO SEE PERIODS OF MODERATE TO HEAVY SNOWFALL AND PEIOD OF BLOWING SNOW TONIGHT THROUGH SATURDAY AFTERNOON.
ON THE PLAINS OF NORTHEAST COLORADO PRECIPITATION IS EXPECTED TO START OUT AS RAIN AND SNOW SHOWERS THIS EVENING. THEN WITH THE PASSAGE OF A STRONG COLD FRONT LATE THIS EVENING PRECIPITATION SHOULD QUICKLY CHANGE TO SNOW…WITH SNOWFALL POSSIBLY HEAVY AFTER MIDNIGHT. HEAVIEST SNOWFALL IS EXPECTED TO OCCUR ALONG THE FRONT RANGE AND UP ALONG THE WYOMING BORDER. THIS SNOWFALL WILL CONTINUE ACROSS NORTHEAST COLORADO AT LEAST UNTIL LATE SATURDAY AFTERNOON. IN ADDITION…STRONG NORTHERLY WINDS OF AT LEAST 45 MPH MAY ALSO PRODUCE CONSIDERABLE BLOWING AND DRIFTING SNOW. ACROSS THE FAR NORTHEAST PLAINS…WINDS IN EXCESS OF 50 MPH MAY PRODUCE BLIZZARD CONDITIONS BY THE AFTERNOON.
THESE HARSH WINTER-LIKE CONDITIONS SHOULD GRADUALLY IMPROVE FROM WEST TO EAST SATURDAY NIGHT AS THIS POWERFUL STORM SYSTEM MOVES AWAY FROM COLORADO.
RESIDENTS IN NORTHEAST AND NORTH CENTRAL COLORADO AND THOSE PLANNING TRAVEL ACROSS COLORADO OR IN STATES TO THE NORTH AND NORTHEAST SHOULD STAY TUNED TO THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE OR YOUR LOCAL NEWS MEDIA FOR THE LATEST INFORMATION AND UPDATES CONCERNING THIS POTENTIAL SPRING SNOWSTORM.
Of course, the trick is, what turns out to be meanty by “northeast” Colorado. That could mean everything down to the Springs, or we could be dry and BD inundated up in Boulder, or we could see three flakes while Ft Collins turns into a snowscape.
At the very least, it sounds like a good excuse for not doing yardwork this weekend. But a bad excuse for not doing taxes.
North Central generally means Grand and Jackson Counties, North Eastern generally means points east from there (Larimer, Boulder, Weld, etc). So yeah, it will be interesting to see where the storm goes, and if it is going to be as lame as the one Wednessday.
I think the line “THE PRECISE PATH OF THIS STORM REMAINS UNCERTAIN” is pretty much a given when it comes to storms in Colorado. The NWS had the warning for this originally up yesterday morning, but talking about these sorts of things 24 hours (even 8 hours) before the fact is a mook’s game.
Short Term Forecast
SHORT TERM FORECAST
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DENVER CO
134 PM MDT FRI APR 03 2009
COZ038>041-043-032245-
LARIMER COUNTY BELOW 6000 FEET/NORTHWEST WELD COUNTY-BOULDER AND
JEFFERSON COUNTIES BELOW 6000 FEET/WEST BROOMFIELD COUNTY-NORTH
DOUGLAS COUNTY BELOW 6000 FEET/DENVER/WEST ADAMS AND ARAPAHOE
COUNTIES/EAST BROOMFIELD COUNTY-ELBERT/CENTRAL AND EAST DOUGLAS
COUNTIES ABOVE 6000 FEET-CENTRAL AND SOUTH WELD COUNTY-
INCLUDING FORT COLLINS…HEREFORD…LOVELAND…NUNN…ARVADA…
BOULDER…GOLDEN…LAKEWOOD…LONGMONT…AURORA…BRIGHTON…CITY
OF DENVER…DENVER INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT…HIGHLANDS RANCH…
LITTLETON…PARKER…CASTLE ROCK…ELBERT…FONDIS…KIOWA…
LARKSPUR…EATON…FORT LUPTON…GREELEY…ROGGEN
134 PM MDT FRI APR 03 2009
.NOW…
SCATTERED RAIN SHOWERS WILL DRIFT OFF THE FOOTHILLS OF JEFFERSON AND
BOULDER COUNTIES AND INTO THE URBAN CORRIDOR THROUGH 4 PM. ANY
RAINFALL WILL BE LIGHT.
$$
Updates I find are:
And from Wunderground for our neck of the woods (North Douglas County Below 6000 Feet/Denver/West Adams and Arapahoe Counties/East Broomfield County) ( http://www.wunderground.com/US/CO/Centennial.html ):
So … safe to go out for dinner tonight. 🙂 And tomorrow night, probably, too, but only if you’re wearing a jacket.
I didn’t hear any snow plows over nght, so I was pretty sure that this was another epic fail snow warning wise….and it was.
Looking out the window the sidewalk and streets are wet and maybe an inch of snow on the grass.
Thats about what we have. Though the radar track looked like it was running right on top of you.