As many communities continue to dig out after last week's monster snow , let's take a quick look at snowpack across the state and see what kind of impact the storm had on numbers across the South Platte Basin. The statewide snow water equivalent (SWE) now sits at 108% of the median for the date, and 90% of the median peak snowpack which is ab

Temperatures have warmed and the storm track has quieted after a pretty good stretch of winter over the first part of January across the region. Much of eastern Colorado is running from 8 - 12°F degrees below average through the first 20 days of the month. Last week's cold was impressive, and not just in our backyard but across much of the country as you can see below: We have also finally seen some meaningful snow across parts of the state, and after a dismal start to the new year for snowp

We are almost to the weekend, and if you are a skier and plan to be on the hills, you'll see some freshies. If you aren't leaving the metro areas, you too have a chance of some snow. Here's a quick animation that shows areas of snow during the weekend. The images for Sunday are what catch my attention, with those deep blues indicating heavy snow over the mountains - a place desperately needing snow. A recent post about just that -> Snowpack numbers are dismal across Colorado and the West, wi

It's the worst start to to a new year for snowpack across Colorado since 2018, with the median snowpack running at just 68% to start 2024. Ouch! The troublesome snowpack numbers aren't unique to Colorado either. Across the west we see the majority of basins running below average to date, and in perhaps a majority of cases well below that longterm average. Basins running 70% of better of median are in few company. This year's issue isn't just that it's been dry, but it's also been warm. What

We've inching toward the halfway mark here in December, and somehow nearing the end of 2023. Time for a quick update on what we're watching for the next days and final weeks of the year. The big weather story this week will be plentiful wet weather across the Southern Plains for the latter half of the week into next weekend. This will be a widespread precipitation event for Texas, with some of that anomalous moisture expected to push into southeast Colorado, and portions of New Mexico, Oklahom

Our slow start to the snowy-season continues statewide across Colorado. We're going to attempt to help out the slope this weekend as several waves of energy move across the state. Many of the ski resorts could see up to a foot or more of snow by Sunday night. Slow start to the season for Western U.S. snowpack, will that change in December?It hasn’t been a great start to the s

It hasn't been a great start to the snow season across the Western United States, with the majority of basins from Colorado to California reporting (well) below average snowpack through the last days of November. The season is young, so today's numbers aren't necessarily a harbinger of what's to come, but as we get into December we start to really hope to see those numbers climb across the board. For Colorado specifically, the statewide median snowpack is sitting at just 58% as compared to t

So far, November has been pretty quiet following the Halloween Weekend snow, but we will see a more active finish to the month across the region starting in waves this week into next. For the Denver Area, the month to date is 16th warmest and 16th driest (period of record starts in 1872). The city has only recorded a trace of precipitation to this point. If you look at historic patterns when the atmosphere was acting like it is now, they all lean toward colder shots of air from Canada making t

Areas near Denver and Colorado Springs are in line for a possible snow event this weekend, as are many of us across Colorado. A bit of a messy forecast in store as we head toward the end of the work week and into the weekend. As we discussed with our Insiders yesterday , the next system to swing through could lend our best chance for snow along much of the urban corridor as we've seen all month, but there remain

Denver's average snowfall for March (dating back to 1882) is 11.5" of snow. That makes it the city's snowiest month on average, with some big time storms coming during the month over the years. The snowiest March on record dates back to 2003, when 35.2" of snow was recorded. We nearly broke the record a couple of years ago but came up just short in 2021 with 34.0" falling at DIA [https://www.weather5280.com/2021/03/15/blizzard-of-march-2021-will-stand-as-4th-biggest-snowfall-on-record-for-denver

For those of you in Colorado, a nice break in the action for a couple of days, but more winter is on the horizon, particularly for the high country and perhaps northeast Colorado too. If you missed it, here is a link to snowfall totals from across the state from the latest storm, as well as a map of season-to-date totals for Colorado: Denver Weather: Snow clears, melts and next storm on the wayIt’s Thursday morning, and although quite cold, we have sunshine and warmer temperatures on the way u

Considering the recent flow of moisture toward the western U.S. from the Pacific (atmospheric river events), let's check in on how the water situation looks presently, particularly the Colorado River system. Just after Christmas, a series of atmospheric rivers brought dangerous amounts of rain and snow to California during a 3-week period. So

Some good news to share from the most recent U.S. Drought Monitor report released on Thursday, and that is that now more than a third (39%) of Colorado has been removed from the Abnormally Dry or Drought classification categories as determined by the U.S. Drought Monitor, which is up from just 13.75% a week ago. We also saw great improvement in the D2 Severe Drought category, with more than 30% of the state falling into th

It's been a remarkably chilly month so far in a time where that's remarkably hard to pull off. Through the first 19 days of the November, Denver is running 5.4°F below average, with an average temperature of just 36.1°F so far this month. We will see the opposite this week, warming and nearing the 60s by the end of the week! As our Insiders know, this month's pattern flip was actually well-telegraphed [https://www.weather5280.com/2022/10/14/regional-insiders-u

We eagerly await a change to our weather across the state which will arrive this weekend in the form of SNOW for the high country. The current weather pattern over the U.S. has anomalous warmth parked over the west under a big ridge of high pressure, with notable early season cold across the eastern CONUS. Across the Central and Southeast U.S. look at all the daily and monthly record lows that were set this morning, brr! The pattern holds through the end of the week but begins to shift thi

Statewide snowpack has ticked up a bit after last weekend's snow, but remains below average for this time of year. The statewide median is now 72% of average, but there are great disparities across the various basins across the state. Colorado statewide snowpackAcross northeast Colorado basins are running near average, while southwest Colorado is all but out of snow, just 4% of average for the San Miguel basin! Or visualized another way, huge deficits across southwest Colorado as the rest of

After a dismal start to the snow season across the Western United States, December 2021 has been one to remember. Basins, many of which were just 10 to 30% of average snowpack to start the month have seen a dramatic turn around with a favorable pattern in place since the first week of December. Those same basins across Oregon, California, and Nevada are now running some 100 to 200% of average. Two more storms are set to swing through before the end of the year, too. For Colorado it's been a

While we finally "officially" saw our first snow of the season earlier this month in Denver, let's face it, we're still waiting for our first real storm of the season. Denver is moving into the final days of December with just 0.3" of snow in the books, and an oversupply of warm and windy days. Across the west the pattern has meant something entirely different, with plentiful moisture crashing into the west coast this month and more to come before the end of the year. Given the slow start to t

It's been a good month for snow across much of the west. In some places, a great month. Overall, the Western United States continues to play catch up on the snowpack front, with nearly all basins across the west playing catchup after a dry, dry start to the snow season. You may look at the above and see a still overwhelming bias to below average snowpack across most basins. If we compare this map to 10 days ago that we shared in our perspective piece on the slow start to the snow season [https

Talking heads and headlines have focused on the slow start to the snow season for Colorado and Denver. For Denver, it's garnered national attention: Denver still waiting for 1st snow of season, breaking recordABC News chief meteorologist Ginger Zee tracks the latest weather conditions and temperatures. ABC NewsABC News It’s December and it hasn’t snowed in Denver yet. That’s never been recorded Colorad

Almost immediately after our major snowstorm wrapped up this weekend, the calls and emails started coming into the office on Monday morning. So many questions swirled around how extreme this event was , and most importantly, what does it mean for snowpack and drought. So here, I answer the major questions everyone has been asking. Did this stor

Well, we are quickly approaching the end of the first month of 2021, and if you were hoping the year would turn things around in the snow department, you can probably pile this on to the list of disappointments to start the year! I say probably, as we do still have a chance for some snow this week, but odds of anything significant across Northeast Colorado look low. Officially Denver has recorded just 1.9" of snow so far this month, well below the longterm average of 6.5" for January. It's pos

Some of Colorado's SNOTEL sites are in their lowest 15th percentile for snow water equivalent to date, and the state's average has dropped to kick off the year. Colorado sits at 80% of average snowpack as of January 5th's assessment, which is down several points since the end of December. Let's do a visual check of snowfall for the season thus far. Now, let's see how that snowfall compares to average. This uses the NWS snowfall season, which starts July 1st. Looking at that previous map,

Happy New Year to all. We hope you had a quiet, wonderful, and safe New Year's weekend. We look forward to sharing the weather with you in the year ahead! The state of the atmosphere to start 2021 remains mostly unremarkable across the region. While we do see a few snow chances on the horizon, nothing convincingly so at this time and our mountains will need more than that to catch up after a slow start to the season. Status on La Niña and Latest NMME Model OutlookHappy New Year Insiders! La

The season isn't over just yet, but many Colorado weather stations are ranked into their top 20 snowfall seasons on record already. Boulder is in its snowiest season ever recorded there, and, as mentioned, we may see more snow there before the season ends next month. As of this posting, 24 stations (with a minimum of 50 ye