Chinook Posted May 3, 2012 Author Share Posted May 3, 2012 Fort Collins-CSU April 2012 was 5.9 degrees above the normal for the month. This ranks as the warmest in the 124 year record The combined March-April departure from normal temperature was (+7.3 degrees) and the warmest on record. The calendar year (Jan-Apr) departure from normal temperature was (+4.7 degrees) and was also the warmest on record. Records Highest Maximum Temperature 1 April 2012: 82 breaks the previous record of 78 set in 2004. 23 April 2012: 84 breaks the previous record of 83 set in 1989. 24 April 2012: 88 breaks the previous record of 84 set in 1996. 25 April 2012: 82 ties the previous record set in 1891, 1938, and 1981. Total monthly precipitation was 0.40” and was 1.66” below the normal for the month (19% of normal). This ranks as the 8th driest April Denver: APRIL 2012 was the 7TH WARMEST APRIL IN DENVER. IT WAS 5.9 DEGREES ABOVE NORMAL. PRECIPITATION FOR THE MONTH WAS 1.39"...WHICH IS 0.32" BELOW NORMAL. 1 INCH OF SNOWFALL WAS RECORDED AT DENVER INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT A NEW RECORD HIGH TEMPERATURE OF 88 DEGREES WAS ESTABLISHED ON APRIL 24TH. ...NEW RECORD HIGH TEMPERATURE APRIL 1ST...84 DEGREES. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mayjawintastawm Posted May 3, 2012 Share Posted May 3, 2012 My family refuses to believe me when I tell them the past year and a half have been bizarre relative to climatology. Since we moved here in August 2010, it has been generally warm and dry, and they tell me I moved them to a desert and will not budge in that opinion. I need some rain and cool weather to get my credibility back!! All I can say is that I'm glad we didn't pay to have the snowblower moved. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mayjawintastawm Posted May 8, 2012 Share Posted May 8, 2012 About 1/3 of an inch of rain the past couple of days. Kids and dogs happy. Everything's nice and green now- gorgeous day! Maybe this'll repeat on Sat though would be nice to have a sunny Mom's day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boulderrr Posted May 8, 2012 Share Posted May 8, 2012 About 1/3 of an inch of rain the past couple of days. Kids and dogs happy. Everything's nice and green now- gorgeous day! Maybe this'll repeat on Sat though would be nice to have a sunny Mom's day. .88" reported in Boulder... which led to this up in the canyon: http://kdvr.com/2012/05/07/15-ton-boulder-crashes-onto-boulder-canyon-dr/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chinook Posted May 8, 2012 Author Share Posted May 8, 2012 We got 0.6 to 0.7" in Fort Collins. This would be considered fairly normal for one rainy day in May, but we have had such little rain. This is the only soaking we have had since the snow melted. I saw lots of lightning on Saturday night, with the thunderstorm complex that was near Greeley and Denver. I could see a lot of lightning flashes, about one per second. This storm didn't hit Fort Collins. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CO SciFan Posted May 9, 2012 Share Posted May 9, 2012 We got 0.6 to 0.7" in Fort Collins. This would be considered fairly normal for one rainy day in May, but we have had such little rain. This is the only soaking we have had since the snow melted. I saw lots of lightning on Saturday night, with the thunderstorm complex that was near Greeley and Denver. I could see a lot of lightning flashes, about one per second. This storm didn't hit Fort Collins. I was off of Highway 14 near Briggsdale, CO on those storms and it was nearly constant lightning! We were actually out chasing the full moonrise, which we did manage to see for a bit before it rose into the clouds but we also got a rainbow, a great sunset and some beautiful storms. I have more images that I have not posted yet, but here's one of a lightning strike pretty close (this was taken with a wide angle lens at 24 mm on a window mount to give an idea of scale, some of my other catches were even closer basically right on top of the car): Energized Turbulence by Fort Photo, on Flickr Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boulderrr Posted May 10, 2012 Share Posted May 10, 2012 Sweet picture! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mayjawintastawm Posted May 10, 2012 Share Posted May 10, 2012 Really nice picture! The lightning was spooky though, very frequent and centered about 10 miles north of us with 1 inch hail. We got small hail out of it and 2-3 LOUD thunderclaps- the rolling kind that shook the house. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chinook Posted May 16, 2012 Author Share Posted May 16, 2012 Looks like we have a fire in the Poudre Canyon, at the Hewlett Gulch hiking trail, possibly going toward Greyrock Mountain. I like hiking up there. I will probably see a lot of burned forests in the distance next time I stand on Greyrock. It sounds like it hasn't hit houses yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CO SciFan Posted May 16, 2012 Share Posted May 16, 2012 With the change in wind intensity and direction today we now have smoke pooring into Fort Collins. I could see the current smoke levels in town being harmful to those with senstive health issues. It also sounds like persistent winds could continue into the night. I am guessing they will need to issue a health advisory due to the smoke soon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mayjawintastawm Posted May 17, 2012 Share Posted May 17, 2012 Fire up to >5000 acres now, growth SW-->NE with some evacuations ordered and smoke advisories. Yikes. Saturday's rains and cooler temps can't come soon enough. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chinook Posted May 21, 2012 Author Share Posted May 21, 2012 I watched the news last night and they said the fire was 87% contained. It looks like we may have some rain on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. I wonder if instability will be high enough for severe storms. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
baroclinic_instability Posted May 31, 2012 Share Posted May 31, 2012 Lovely cap cloud in the Tetons this morning. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mnweather Posted May 31, 2012 Share Posted May 31, 2012 ^Very impressive Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
baroclinic_instability Posted May 31, 2012 Share Posted May 31, 2012 ^Very impressive A great example of why mtn weather is awesome. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chinook Posted June 1, 2012 Author Share Posted June 1, 2012 Last Tuesday (9 days ago) Fort Collins and Denver broke record highs. Then last Wednesday, most of the area got about 0.6" of rain. Saturday, we had dew points up to 57 before the warm front and cold front came through. Then the dew points were down to the single digits for a bit. Finally the air felt normal when we had a dew point of 57. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vandy Posted June 3, 2012 Share Posted June 3, 2012 Looks like after some delay that thunderstorm season has finally begun on the front range. Pretty good popcorn convection over the high country yesterday with a chance of more for the next week. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ksstormhunter Posted June 4, 2012 Share Posted June 4, 2012 Looks like Montana and Idaho may see some action today, in regards to potential for some severe thunderstorms around the area. Potential for hail up to 1.5" and winds between 50-55mph across the area today. Currently seeing indices working they way up. LI's around -4, MLCAPE around 1300 j/kg, SSI around -5, and SFC CAPE around 1,000 j/kg. I think we will see some isolated severe storms across the area this afternoon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chinook Posted June 4, 2012 Author Share Posted June 4, 2012 Looks like after some delay that thunderstorm season has finally begun on the front range. Pretty good popcorn convection over the high country yesterday with a chance of more for the next week. Looks like we have quite a few chances for thunderstorms and brief rain these next few days. Based off the SPC SREF thunder/lightning probabilities: 30-40% today, 40-50% tomorrow, 30-40% Wednesday, 30-50% Thursday. We really need an inch of rain this week. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mayjawintastawm Posted June 4, 2012 Share Posted June 4, 2012 Only thing is that our "thunderstorms" both Sat and Sunday consisted mainly of a bunch of wind, some lightning, and virga galore... we could have these for two months in a row and not get an inch of rain. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chinook Posted June 4, 2012 Author Share Posted June 4, 2012 Only thing is that our "thunderstorms" both Sat and Sunday consisted mainly of a bunch of wind, some lightning, and virga galore... we could have these for two months in a row and not get an inch of rain. Right-- Saturday I had 30mph wind gusts, but really light sprinkles, and thunder. Yesterday, thunder, and 0.01", it sprinkled for minutes. Today, it looks like storm motions will be either zero, or storms will track west instead of east. Storms should stay over the mountains, even though the CAPE will be mostly east of here. Hopefully I'm wrong-- maybe something will pop up on the urban corridor and stay for a few minutes or an hour. Slow storm motions can lead to floods. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.