Mountain West Discussion

[Chinook]

My place has gotten possibly 6" in 6 hours. It already has exceeded the greatest one storm at my place last year.

[raindancewx]

I had some pretty big Novembers in Colorado in my analogs. 1992 has had some similarities in recent weeks, and has been a strong precip analog here since July - near identical monthly totals excepts in August when a thunderstorm missed our airport. Even blended in with some of the lesser years, there was a pretty good signal for snow for Montana, Wyoming, Colorado and New Mexico in November this year. December will likely quiet down some for Colorado, but we'll see how that goes.

[MidlothianWX]

Man, this band is just parked over Lyons-Loveland. Someone on that line is getting absolutely smoked right now.

[ValpoVike]

Yeah on the Lyons to Loveland.  I am hearing that Pinewood Springs west of Lyons is a whiteout.  Hwy 36 closed until some plows can get in.

[MidlothianWX]

At roughly the 6 hour mark, I measured slightly over 4" with a temp of 27.

[snowfan789]

1 hour ago, raindancewx said:

I had some pretty big Novembers in Colorado in my analogs. 1992 has had some similarities in recent weeks, and has been a strong precip analog here since July - near identical monthly totals excepts in August when a thunderstorm missed our airport. Even blended in with some of the lesser years, there was a pretty good signal for snow for Montana, Wyoming, Colorado and New Mexico in November this year. December will likely quiet down some for Colorado, but we'll see how that goes.

December 1992 wasn’t bad in the Front Range and October 1992 was much less snowy than October 2019. We are statistically way overdue for an 80”+ year in Denver. Who knows if it’ll finally happen this year. But so far, so good....

[Chinook]

I'm going to take a measurement in 10:00 or 11:00. As you can see, storm reports are 4.5" or better in the band. I am near the 8".

[MidlothianWX]

04z HRRR shifts the precip max just a bit west, although quite a bit has already fallen from Lyons up through Loveland.

[MidlothianWX]

Current storm totals, taken between 8:30-10:30pm:

Fort Collins - 8" (there is a 12" report but I'm skeptical)
Loveland - 7"
Lyons - 6"
Longmont - 5.5"
Nederland - 5.5"
Boulder - 5.5" (my measurement)

Currently 25.7 in Boulder.

[raindancewx]

My concern for later periods is the the Indian Ocean Dipole. Can't hang on as strong as it is for much longer. Near impossible to get sustained low pressure by Australia with it in place, and so the SOI keeps going bonkers, more than you'd expect from an El Nino this weak.

Speaking of the SOI...another big 10 point drop. You know the drill. Watch for a big storm in the SW in ten days...and actually the GFS already has something in the vein of the current pattern: tropical input from the subtropical jet, coming in roughly the same time as a big low from the northern branch entering California. I'd have to look at the maps of 1992-93, but if this continues for any length of time in winter here, we've got a shot at record or near-precip this winter. These storms coming in have 0.50-1.00" precip each - huge for the interior SW.

[Chinook]

It's quite a lot here. I got 10-11" at 10:30PM.  I attempted to take a measurement on the north side of the street, where there was bare grass.

[MidlothianWX]

Just measured a little over 8". Current temp is 25.5.

06z HRRR shaves a few inches off of final amounts. Really hones in on the upslope flow in central/western Boulder and Larimer.

[mayjawintastawm]

Good morning! 9 hours, 9 inches down here, storm total 9.3 so far as of 6 AM. Guessing 15:1 ratio based on shovel weight. I bet some places between Boulder and Estes Park are closing in on 25".

[MidlothianWX]

Just measured about 17.5" and cleared the board. This upslope-driven band is just totally parked over southern/western Boulder county. 22.6 with really solid rates currently. All I can say is, wow - officially the biggest total IMBY since PDII in 2003.

HRRR gives Boulder an additional 5-6" starting at 6am. Hope everyone stays safe out there!

[MidlothianWX]

Current Front Range totals, taken between 6-8am:

Lyons - 23.2"
Boulder - 20.5"
Louisville - 16"
Estes Park - 16"
Loveland - 14.5"
Evergreen - 13.2"
Wheat Ridge - 11.6"
Lakewood - 11"
Broomfield - 10.8"
Longmont - 10.5"
Westminster - 10"
Englewood - 9.5"

Can't find anything from Fort Collins. Someone SE of Estes Park reported 31.7" at a pretty high elevation.

[MidlothianWX]

Taken in Boulder around 8am:

[MidlothianWX]

At 8:45am, I measured 20.5" with a temp of 22.8. Snow is still falling and should continue to do so for another few hours.

[ValpoVike]

55 minutes ago, MidlothianWX said:

Current Front Range totals, taken between 6-8am:

Lyons - 23.2"
Boulder - 20.5"
Louisville - 16"
Estes Park - 16"
Loveland - 14.5"
Evergreen - 13.2"
Wheat Ridge - 11.6"
Lakewood - 11"
Broomfield - 10.8"
Longmont - 10.5"
Westminster - 10"
Englewood - 9.5"

Can't find anything from Fort Collins. Someone SE of Estes Park reported 31.7" at a pretty high elevation.

That 31.7" came from near Pinewood which is on the Boulder/Larimer border.  They got slammed all night long there.

[Chinook]

This could be around 15". I will measure snow and shovel some snow soon.   recent storm reports: 14-14.5 at Fort Collins.

[MidlothianWX]

I'm somewhere in the 21-22" range now. Hard to tell due to a bit of blowing. The NOAA measurement site a mile from my house had 21" as of 9am. If we can hit 22.6" it will be a top 10 storm all-time.

I went to bed last night thinking there was no chance that Boulder would be part of the jackpot area, but here we are. In addition, Boulder has, at a minimum, 54" of snow on the season.

[ValpoVike]

Measuring here is a futile endeavor because of drifts everywhere.  There is a Cocorahs report from this morning of 29" very near to my house, which feels right so I'll go with that

 

[MidlothianWX]

14 minutes ago, ValpoVike said:

Measuring here is a futile endeavor because of drifts everywhere.  There is a Cocorahs report from this morning of 29" very near to my house, which feels right so I'll go with that

 

Where does this rank for you, personally and/or for Estes Park?

[Chinook]

I measured 16" on the grass that was bare grass before the storm. It was even hard to find the grass/sidewalk edge.

Here's a neat little drift near a roof

[snowfan789]

Ended up with about 20” in western Lakewood, most of which fell over about 12 hours. Expectations exceeded. 

[Chinook]

Now western Kansas is getting 2" per hour, and winds picking up to 20-30mph.

[MidlothianWX]

Snow has completely finished here in Boulder. I measure 21" IMBY but the official COOP station right up the road appears to have at least 22" - we'll have to wait for their final report. Looks like the Euro was pretty much dead on with QPF, down to the hundredth of an inch.

This is a top 5 or 6 storm for Boulder since the modern COOP station went up in 1990. This is also likely to be a borderline top 10 event all-time. What a fun ride it was - probably the 2nd most I've ever seen IMBY.

@donsutherland1 I thought I would tag you, as I know you pop in here from time to time. Didn't want you to miss this!

[smokeybandit]

A station just a mile or 2 north of me is reporting 14.5", so I'll go with 14 and be very happy with it.

[MidlothianWX]

The Boulder COOP station officially reports 22.3" for the storm. 20.7" fell between 5pm yesterday and today.

1. #11 two-day snowfall of all time (needed an extra .3" for top 10).
2. #3 two-day snowfall in the month of November.
3. Daily snowfall record for November 27th.
4. #3 daily snowfall of all time.
5. #2 daily snowfall in the month of November.

The season snowfall total is now 55.1" vs. an average of 19.4" through the end of November.

[ValpoVike]

5 hours ago, MidlothianWX said:

Where does this rank for you, personally and/or for Estes Park?

I live in unincorporated Larimer northeast of Estes, along CR43. My personal is 41" on May 19th 2017. I have heard of a 53" storm in November 2013...before I moved here. I have lived in 2 snow belts in the great lakes region - Northwest Indiana and Chardon, OH. So, I have seen some much larger snows.  One in particular while driving in NW Indiana on I-80 thru a 4" per hour snow squall. That is scary stuff.

In Estes there is a lack of historical climatology records, so not much to compare. 

[ValpoVike]

From a Larimer County Emergency Services text today with county snow totals:

S: Winter Weather Update 11/26/2019 11:07am Winter Storm Update 11/26/2019 11am - Latest radar shows that the current storm system should be moving out of Larimer County in the next hour or so. Road crews are working to catch up in all cities and the county. Big snow in western parts of Larimer with Red Feather and Stove Prairie winning the award with 32" of snow.