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Mountain West Discussion


Chinook
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21 minutes ago, Wentzadelphia said:

Hey guys if anything close to the gfs and para end up happening what are places in the state that would be a choice to chase to?  I’ve never been beyond Pittsburg PA so I obv don’t know much about Denver/suburbs 

we're a long way out, as you know, with modeling.  if there is that much snow near the denver mountains, it wouldn't be the most safe thing to chase as there are areas where it isn't survivable out here.  but the foothills / denver proper would be interesting.  I'm not an expert chaser, I have just seen these mountains turn from driveable to "your survival is threatened" pretty quickly.

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2 hours ago, WeatherEmperor said:

we're a long way out, as you know, with modeling.  if there is that much snow near the denver mountains, it wouldn't be the most safe thing to chase as there are areas where it isn't survivable out here.  but the foothills / denver proper would be interesting.  I'm not an expert chaser, I have just seen these mountains turn from driveable to "your survival is threatened" pretty quickly.

Thanks, I’m not an expert either just a hobbyist. I’d have to figure this out fast it’s hard because normally I drive to places in northeast for nor’easters. This would be a flight, rental/Uber. I’d have to find a place that isn’t remote though even if I sacrifice some snowfall

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2 hours ago, ValpoVike said:

12z ECMWF is increasing QPF in Larimer and Boulder foothills as well.   If I were chasing, I would target the Peak to Peak highway....Nederland to Estes Park area, but as mentioned it would be quite dangerous unless you got a hotel and tracked from a window :).

That’s what I normally do when I chase. So would need a recommendation/find a hotel in one of these areas. I don’t go out and drive during the event I just sit back and hope my hotel jackpots ha

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1 hour ago, Wentzadelphia said:

That’s what I normally do when I chase. So would need a recommendation/find a hotel in one of these areas. I don’t go out and drive during the event I just sit back and hope my hotel jackpots ha

You could go to Black Hawk and stay at one of the casinos...maybe a jackpot either way.

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5 hours ago, ValpoVike said:

I think the GFS may be on crack, but it is a very juicy trend on most of the models with 2"+ QPF's being pretty common up and down the foothills and the front range.

I thought the same thing until I looked at ensembles and GEFS & EPS showing potentially historic snow for Denver Friday-Sunday. This will be a fun one to follow.

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18z GFS is even more insane than 12z.  Obviously that'll never happen but it's fun to watch. Then again those kind of totals are far into the danger zone for many people.

 

My biggest storm as an adult was in MD in 2010. We had two 20"+ storms within a week.  It was nuts. The roof was creaking and I ran out of places to put the shoveled snow. It took a week to even get the neighborhood plowed so neighbors dug a path out to the main road.

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19 minutes ago, smokeybandit said:

18z GFS is even more insane than 12z.  Obviously that'll never happen but it's fun to watch. Then again those kind of totals are far into the danger zone for many people.

 

My biggest storm as an adult was in MD in 2010. We had two 20"+ storms within a week.  It was nuts. The roof was creaking and I ran out of places to put the shoveled snow. It took a week to even get the neighborhood plowed so neighbors dug a path out to the main road.

I saw 70" when I lived in Chardon, OH which is geographically the bullseye in the Lake Erie snowbelt.  The most I have seen up here is 44" on a few May's ago...but that melted almost entirely a day later with temps in the 70's.  The AFD from NWS this afternoon is rightfully trying to walk thru all of the things that can get in the way, but I would be absolutely thrilled to get half of the 65" that the GFS is showing IMBY.

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9 hours ago, ValpoVike said:

12z ECMWF is increasing QPF in Larimer and Boulder foothills as well.   If I were chasing, I would target the Peak to Peak highway....Nederland to Estes Park area, but as mentioned it would be quite dangerous unless you got a hotel and tracked from a window :).

There are a few nice places to stay in Estes Park, as good a base as any. If you want to observe impact on populated areas, then Boulder. If you are into rustic and potentially cut off from civilization, the Allenspark Lodge right on the Peak to Peak Highway is great if it's open (not sure if it is in winter or in COVID). Great breakfasts there. 50 inches of snow for that area is actually not super rare. Find a way to get a hold of some xc skis or snowshoes and have a good time.

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6 hours ago, smokeybandit said:

18z GFS is even more insane than 12z.  Obviously that'll never happen but it's fun to watch. Then again those kind of totals are far into the danger zone for many people.

 

My biggest storm as an adult was in MD in 2010. We had two 20"+ storms within a week.  It was nuts. The roof was creaking and I ran out of places to put the shoveled snow. It took a week to even get the neighborhood plowed so neighbors dug a path out to the main road.

Blizzard of '78 in metro Boston, baby. One for the ages. 30 inches of dense snow on top of 20 inches 2 weeks earlier, hurricane force winds, huge coastal flooding, school out for 2 weeks (yes, in MA), state of emergency for 1 week, the whole deal. I think Mike Dukakis wore the same sweater for like 10 straight days (look it up). That one got me started on weather. I still have a test tube of water from that blizzard in a box in the basement.

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19 hours ago, smokeybandit said:

18z GFS is even more insane than 12z.  Obviously that'll never happen but it's fun to watch. Then again those kind of totals are far into the danger zone for many people.

 

My biggest storm as an adult was in MD in 2010. We had two 20"+ storms within a week.  It was nuts. The roof was creaking and I ran out of places to put the shoveled snow. It took a week to even get the neighborhood plowed so neighbors dug a path out to the main road.

I love reminiscing about the 2009-10 season. I was in Richmond at the time and followed every storm very closely on these boards. My love for winter weather was sparked by PDII though - I was living in Frederick, MD at the time and we received something like 25" which is still my all-time IMBY total (followed closely by Nov '19 here in Boulder).

If the 12z GFS is anywhere close to accurate though - and that is a massive "if" - I might be looking at finally breaking that record. Looks to be about 4.8" of qpf from Fri-Sun for Boulder proper.

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Blizzard of '78 in metro Boston, baby. One for the ages. 30 inches of dense snow on top of 20 inches 2 weeks earlier, hurricane force winds, huge coastal flooding, school out for 2 weeks (yes, in MA), state of emergency for 1 week, the whole deal. I think Mike Dukakis wore the same sweater for like 10 straight days (look it up). That one got me started on weather. I still have a test tube of water from that blizzard in a box in the basement.

I chased Feb '13 in Boston. I want to say the final total was something like 26". Got knocked over by a wind gust, met Jim Cantore, and randomly bumped into a few AmWx members at a bar. I believe that was only the second time in history that they shut the roads down, after '78 of course.

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22 minutes ago, WeatherEmperor said:

I don't really know how to parse when two completely different models are aligned on a major storm but diverge significantly on QPF amounts.

Actually, the 12z Euro and the 12z GFSv16 are in decent alignment.  They even are fairly remarkably close in terms of the bullseye, with about .6" delta in QPF and much lesser discrepancies further south around Denver.  The GFS on the other hand is still way out there on the maxima.   

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These are the ensemble plumes for Denver (DIA). Even if we are at the ensemble average of 2.78", that's 27.8" with 10:1 ratios, or 25.0" with 9:1 ratios, as the value of the snow-liquid ratio  would get lower as the snow packs down under its own weight. And, of course, there 100% chance that the total QPF will be higher as you go to 6000-7000 ft.

 

EUjk4Qx.jpg

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41 minutes ago, Chinook said:

These are the ensemble plumes for Denver (DIA). Even if we are at the ensemble average of 2.78", that's 27.8" with 10:1 ratios, or 25.0" with 9:1 ratios, as the value of the snow-liquid ratio  would get lower as the snow packs down under its own weight. And, of course, there 100% chance that the total QPF will be higher as you go to 6000-7000 ft.

 

EUjk4Qx.jpg

And some of them show 50% more on the west side of the metro than at DIA.. not even in the foothills. As is common DIA will probably get the least in the whole metro

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