CBS4 Weather Blog

A few year's ago, after receiving many emails about different aspects of Colorado weather, I decided to create a section on our website, the would  take you beyond the forecast and be a clearing house discussing the ins and outs of Colorado Weather.

At the time we called this section Weather4kids. Since, then I have had several adults tell me that they have checked out the Weather4kids section and loved all the information they found there.

I just wanted to let you know we have changed the name of this section because, it appeals to more than just kids. It is now "COLORADO WEATHER INSIDE & OUT". You can find it at the bottom of the right hand column on the CBS4 Weather Page at CBS4denver.com.

If you can think of any weather questions pertenent to Colorado let me know. I'll try and add it to the list of stuff we have in Colorado Weather Inside & Out.

Dave Aguilera

People tend to associate lightning and thunder to spring and summer thunderstorms. But, we can also, have lightning and thunder with snow storms as well.

The last couple of snow storms we have had several instant messages, tweets and emails about people hearing thunder as the storms were ramping up. This is a phenomenon known as "Thundersnow" and happens in many areas of the United States.

Now, not all snow storms can produce thunder and lightning. You need a system that is capable of producing convection. The ingredients that come together have to do so in a very precise manner. First you have cold air aloft and on the ground, the tricky part is that even though ground temperature is cold, it is still warmer than the air aloft and tends to rise. This feeds instability in the storm system. Meaning you have rising air shooting up into the atmosphere. And just as with summer thunderstorms if there is moisture in that rising air you are going to have some type of condensation and eventually, precipitation. And since, temperatures in a cold winter storm are cold enough in the air and on the ground that precipitation should fall as snow. Other ingredients that help to make the air rise can include a strong advancing cold front and in our case the mountains.

Typically, along the Front Range when we have a convective snow storm we can see a lot more snow in localized areas. So, snowfall measurements can vary greatly. You may have only 8 inches of snow in one area as opposed to 20 inches in others. Much the same way in summer storms, when one side of town may only see a trace of rain and the other enough to flood the streets.

If you have anymore questions about Colorado Weather please check out "Colorado Weather Inside Out" at the bottom right had column of the weather page at cbs4denver.com.

It's not that often we get to be 'normal' here in Colorado.   Quite a bit of the time we have wild swings of temperature around our normal high and low.  For the next few days though, we finally get our chance to be average with highs right around 50 degrees. (which is our average high for this time of year)

A ridge of high pressure has kept us mild the last few days.  Even though a weak cold front will move through for Wednesday night, it really won't affect our temperatures that much.  A nice quiet break after a snowy couple of days last weekend.  Enjoy!

It looks the weather is going to cooperate for Saturdays Fit for Colorado walk. No excuses not to lace up your tennis shoes and join CBS4, America on the Move and the City of Lone Tree this Saturday November 21^st at 9am for a 2 mile walk. The walk will start at Eagle ridge elementary school at 7716 Timberline road.  Join me and Mayor Jim Gunning for some great physical activity before the storm rolls in later. Making small changes like increasing your steps each day can help improve your health. Check out last months walk in Golden it was a ton of fun and we had a great turn out almost 100 walkers took part in the community walk. Hope to see you Saturday in Lone Tree.

http://cbs4denver.com/localslideshows/Fit.Community.Walks.20.851970.html

With some pretty good snows already under our belt for the season, we have a taste for what is to come for winter.  This morning, driving out of my neighborhood, the heavy snow was frozen into iceblock treads down the street.  This is the first year I haven't had a honest to goodness four-wheel drive for the winter (I traded it in for a car with AWD).

I have to say going over those iceblocks this morning, it sounded like the bottom of my car was going to rip off.  It started a discussion in the newsroom about which four wheel drive truck/suv is the best.  Everyone seems to have their favorite~but does it really have to do with the vehicle?  Does it really come down to the driver and the tires~or the brand of 4x4? 

After days of spring like weather I guess it's time for a reality check. November on average is our 2nd snowiest month with 10.7 inches. So far Denver has only recorded 2 inches for month which occurred Friday-so I say let it snow, let it snow, let is snow...That's exactly what is headed our way the next couple of days...We've had our fare share of snowstorms on this date, the last really big one was back in 2005...A winter storm brought heavy snow to the mountains and then it spread into the foothills and Denver. Some of the more impressive totals were in cities like Aspen Springs- 14 inches, Pinecliffe- 13 inches, Nederland- 12 inches. I-70 was even closed near Idaho Springs due to blowing snow during the storm. The winds were blustery too...DIA reported a 61 mph wind when a strong microburst moved over the airport.

We get a lot of calls, emails, IM's and Tweets about why the official temperature is from D.I.A. The official temperature for the City of Denver is the temperature at the airport. This is the stadard for the National Weather Service who keep track of the official weather readings.

In fact, since the mid 90's the offical weather numbers have been recorded from DIA. And that will continue to be the case. But, since, 1995, the National Weather Service has not had an "official weather monitoring station in the city of Denver.

Now that has changed, a new state of the art weather monitoring station is up and running at City Park Golf course. And while the official numbers of Denver remain at DIA. The new station will close a  15 year old gap in the weather records, since, the weather station at the old Stapleton Airport moved to DIA.

The weather site will be owned and operated by the Denver Musuem of Nature and Science who teamed up with the NWS to get the site up and going. You can check out the current weather at the Musuem website :   
http://www.dmns.org/main/en/

Seems like over the last few weeks, we jumped right out of summer and into winter.  So many people have said, "Where'd fall go?" 

Well, our last few afternoon highs have been normal for the middle of October~making it feel a little more like the fall we didn't really get to experience.

Of course, this is Colorado though, so you wait 5 minutes and the weather will change.  After a few days of warm weather, the cold air and snow will be back by early Friday morning~highs around 40.  Hello winter....

I really cherish days like today…While I was returning to the station after a great school visit at Summit elementary in Aurora today I could see for miles-I had a great view of Pikes Peak to the south and Longs Peak to the north. With such an amazing view the one thing that stood out like a sore thumb was the brown haze hanging over the city. I knew today was an action day due to visibility but on a beautiful sunny day like today you don’t always see the haze while you are sitting in downtown Denver. Even though air quality itself is good-residential burning restrictions are in effect because of our poor visibility.  One of the main reasons for the brown haze is due to light winds, there’s just not enough wind to keep the haze away.  The wind is going to remain light through Wednesday-so another action day is in effect through 4pm Wednesday. So if you live in the Denver-Boulder metro area below 7,000 feet residential burning restrictions apply to you-that means if you have a wood burning stove or fireplace you'll have to wait to use it on a non-action day. Even with the lack of wind enjoy the beautiful Colorado sunshine-I know I am.

Posted By Meteorologist Jennifer Zeppelin

The forecast for a warmer than normal November is right on track. So far this month we’ve experienced only one below normal afternoon high. With record breaking heat recorded this month our average temperature is more than 7 degrees above normal. If you’re ready for more seasonal temperatures (highs in the low 50s) you’ll have to wait until the weekend. The spring like weather is expected stick around for a couple more days.

Posted By Meteorologist Jennifer Zeppelin