Official 2019-2020 DENVER Winter and Snow Thread (Loveland: best, metro area)

[Mike from back east]

It's snowing, time to start the annual winter thread for Denver.

[BabyBoomers2]

Here, on the west end of Loveland (Wilson/Eisenhower), I measured 3 1/2 inches yesterday afternoon, but got a little more around 5PM.

[BabyBoomers2]

Originally Posted by LoveBoating

Here, on the west end of Loveland (Wilson/Eisenhower), I measured 3 1/2 inches yesterday afternoon, but got a little more around 5PM.

Mike, This should probably go in the Ft Collins area as a new posting for snow in NOCO.

[Mike from back east]

We get so few postings in the Ft Collins sub that it seems best to limit ourselves to two winter/snow threads, one for the greater Denver metro area and everything else in one statewide forum.

[himain]

Putting my blizzaks on next week

[BarryK123]

It snows every winter. So why do we need this thread?

[Mike from back east]

We do this every year so we have it all in one thread IOT preclude multiple threads. The "weather" is a topic that people love to discuss so we keep it all in one easy to find spot. Same for the summer "fire" thread in the main COLO forum. Everyone is free to play along or ignore as they choose. YMMV.

[Westerner92]

I'll talk about the weather. I grew up on the High Plains of Texas, and we usually got the same strong cold fronts as Denver, just with a little less energy. They call them "blue northers" in Texas. Last week was by far the most bizarre one I've ever experienced.

Obviously early October snows aren't unusual here, but the temperature pattern really was exceptional. Almost all the largest temperature changes in Denver history have occurred from December to February, with a couple of instances in March and November. Early and late snows are almost always heavy and wet, with mild temperatures that swing down barely below freezing, but last week's storm was super cold and powdery like a storm at the height of winter, and it came right after the second-warmest September on record.
https://www.weather.gov/bou/denvertemperaturechanges

70° polar plunges just don't happen this time of year. The polar air mass is usually contained in high latitudes, and the jet stream that forms on the boundary of the midlatitude and polar air masses is usually steadily strengthening near 60°N over North America. Any cold incursions in the fall usually come from eddies that split off the main jet and form cool low pressure systems that dissipate as it's warmed by the surrounding air. What happened last week was that an abnormally warm Pacific caused an abnormally strong N/S jet to form along the boundary between the mild ocean and the cooling inland areas in the north of Canada. That funneled the main polar air mass down the Rockies and caused us to stay below 25° for 36 hours. This kind of pattern usually doesn't set up until much later in the winter because the Pacific is usually mild enough relative to inland Canada this time of year that the N/S jets that drive blue northers don't form. But an abnormally warm Pacific caused a winter-like temperature gradient that's making incursions stronger and more erratic.

[himain]

Talk about some serious wind and wind chill yesterday...BRRRRR

[Timmyy]

Originally Posted by himain

Talk about some serious wind and wind chill yesterday...BRRRRR

There was a little bit of that wind today too. Sometimes it cuts right through you. BRRRRRR is right.