Meh, I only got a tiny flurry of snow...and you're higher up I think!! It is sunny off and on and the snow may come back in a few hours or maybe rain. I'm not sure I trust the weather report as much as I trust my own eyes!!

We got an inch of rain, and just the lightest skiff of snow this morning. It was raining in Telluride, for goodness sake, but finally switched to snow. Both Telluride and Durango Mt. Resort opened today, they finally got enough snow. We're going to try to go XX skiing today, before it melts. Drive 1/4 the distance, spend 1/200th the money, and have the place to yourself.

David, that's about what we had this morning. The temps finally dropped below freezing around 11 o'clock last night, just before the moisture cleared out, so the roads are glassy this morning, but no real measurable snow.

Bonnie

...and I woke up to an inch of snow...not much but the bigger dog sure was pleased!!

As I gauge these things, Bonnie, I was out the back door door a little late this morning. The sky was lightening with a sunrise somewhere above the gray clouds.

The back steps and path out to the gate in the driveway was covered with about 3/4th of an inch of new snow. The gate blew shut behind me in a sudden wind gust of 35 mph as I shoveled my way thru. The front yard, without the interference of tree limbs (blown bare, indicating sustained winds above 20 mph) had that lovely confection sugar snow. It had only been trampled by the neighbor's tom cat who has always preceded me along every walkway no matter what time of the day or night I arrive with the shovel or broom. The tom cat is no measure of anything.

Returning to the back deck with the wind in my face, I noted that the thermometer there was recording 37°F!! I went in and climbed into a nice tub of hot water. Ten minutes later, I exited the tub. Three of DW's hairs were on the floor under towel bar and my towel was already wet . . .

When I got in front of the television, the weather channel told me it was 18°F in the nearby town of Sandpoint. Protected from the 35 mph gusts of 37°F winds, the towns farther up the valley will have a few more minutes of cold temperatures.

This is a Chinook. Montana on the east side of the mountains usually sees the most dramatic rises in temperature. Wikipedia tells us that "on January 15, 1972, in Loma, Montana; the temperature rose from . . . -56°F to . . . 49°F."

There's a "Heavy Snow Warning" in the forecast for today and rain predicted for tomorrow. We could get in trouble here but I hope not. There's only about 5 inches of snow on the ground and a "Heavy Snow Warning" for here means "an additional 2 to 4 inches" - hardly worthy of much excitement.

The amount of rain over the next few days will be critical but with continuing winds and with daytime HIGHs not expected to go more that 7° above what they are right now - I'm thinking that most of this moisture will be carried right on over the mountains over the next few days. The critical issues will be how much rain falls tomorrow & Tuesday and at what elevation that precipitation falls as snow . . . if it does.

digitS'

We had 2 inches of rain out of the storm, by my gauge. I like the southern storm tracks in winter - they bring in soooo much moisture. The storm was followed out by a skift of snow, so everything was white and quite frozen this morning.

Cheers,
Michelle

I just went thru 8 pages of Weather Service records for this part of the world. Mostly, it was record rainfall amounts in NE WA and northern ID.

Wasn't all rain - or, at least it didn't start out that way. Yesterday, Sandpoint, ID got 9 inches of snow but the total precipitation was 2.71 inches! I don't know what the current conditions are but I'd imagine that my brother is mired in mud and water out in the middle of the valley.

To the south and outside of all this moisture, events were also remarkable. Hermiston, OR, down on the Columbia, received like only a total of .01 inch of rain but Hermiston began the day at 64 and topped out at 70°F!! The "Pineapple Express" brought the tropics to NE Oregon! That's 70°F in December!

It looks like this storm track has now swept all the way south to Wyoming & Utah.

digitS'

Yay, snow!!
ya know, my parents had it pretty harsh out in Oregon...they are on the coast and the winds were dangerously gusty for nearly 72 hours straight...they lost their sattelite dish and found it down the hill. There were some pretty serious floods in many parts of Oregon, too! The red cross had over 500 people that needed shelter as a result!
Me, I'm just happily watching the snow fall...
I shoveled in a t-shirt and pajama bottoms, oh it was a cozy 30F this morning!

Last night was a rerun of last weekend. It was about 36 degrees when I went to bed, and the forecast was calling for the temperature to drop to 32, and the rain to change over to snow. When I woke up, it was 33, and it looked like it had rained all night. I'm not complaining about the moisture, we sure need it. I am just amazed to see rain in December! Reminds me of Memphis weather at Christmas, but certainly not Colorado. The kids feel cheated.

Bonnie

I can't believe you guys are still getting rain!! I woke up to a whole new shoveling mess! Another near foot of snow and it is still coming down. Cannot complain, loving it and so are the dogs minus the smallest dog; he hates it. I'm guessing the extra rain is good for drought prevention? Lets hope so!

Same here, Bonnie. Rain all night, still drizzling now, about an inch in the official, '52 meteorological-measurment plastic bucket, the one scientifically placed in the middle of the back porch, so I can see the volume from the window. Snowing pretty good in the mountains.

Okay, from an objective position 800 - 1000 miles away:

Grand Junction was 7 degrees above normal yesterday. However, there hasnÂt been a record set since November 19th when the high temperature reached 65°F.

Denver was 11 degrees above normal yesterday. On December 4th, Denver recorded a record high of 73°F. No previous records have been set in the Denver area since November 10th.

Pueblo was 9 degrees above normal yesterday. Pueblo publishes its record events differently than other locations but it was 20°F below a record high, so nowhere close.

Here, we've finally got sunshine!! They've just boosted the expected high to 35°F!

El Nina conditions are associated with increased temperatures in the Southwest and decreased temperatures in the Northwest . . . Precipitation is generally the reverse during El Nina Winters.

It looks like NOAA's one month & 3 month outlook maps indicate the expectation of a normal El Nina Winter.

digitS'

Here is a link that might be useful:

We got nice, wet snow here in Fort Collins. A couple of inches I'd guess. Everything is real pretty!

Digit posted:
***
Grand Junction was 7 degrees above normal yesterday. However, there hasnÂt been a record set since November 19th when the high temperature reached 65°F.
Denver was 11 degrees above normal yesterday. On December 4th, Denver recorded a record high of 73°F. No previous records have been set in the Denver area since November 10th.
Pueblo was 9 degrees above normal yesterday. Pueblo publishes its record events differently than other locations but it was 20°F below a record high, so nowhere close.
***

Hehe, kind of makes the global warming story look bad doesn't it? Like others said, this morning it looked like it had rained most of the night here. When I came home from work, it looked like it had rained all day. Had a nice thick layer of ice on the front of my truck.

Anyone have greenhouses they are putting peppers or tomatoes in over the winter?

I could use another December like last year... and January... and February :)

--->Rob

Rob, I was the guy saying the eruption of Mt. Saint Helens didn't amount to anything. Then the sky turned an electric blue and it began to rain ash.

The next day, I'm thinking, "well, it doesn't amount to much." I mean, there wasn't really an inch of it on the ground. Then it wouldn't go away. Always hanging in the air, the stuff was choking.

Then the rains came. So, that'll take care of this stuff. But, it didn't - soon as it dried, the cloud of ash was back. It took months and months but I remained optimistic throughout . . .

digitS'

The official, '52 meteorological-measurment plastic bucket reads, I dunno, 'bout 3 fingers this morning, having drizzled all night. If that was snow it would be well over a foot. But, it isn't. It is supposed to snow later today. But then they said that about last night, too.

My firewood is a soggy mess. I bought my kids new XC skis for Christmas, usually they can ski here in the yard but not for the last few years. This time, when I mounted the bindings, I didn't drill all the way through the skis and and have to pretend that 'really cool skis have cleats'.

Weather is so local. Imagine several hundred square miles of snow-covered landscape. The sky clears and the sun shines but the temperatures don't rise above freezing. All that sunlight - - reflected back into space.

Appreciate the absence of snow-cover. For some reason, our temperatures are dropping despite another day of sunshine. I don't mean they are dropping from the overnight low but the high temperature is forecast to be 8 to 10°F colder than yesterday. Not getting much solar heating . . .

Do you know that the ID panhandle is completely OFF the gov'ment's Northern Rockies radar map? So how does western ND, SD, Nebraska get on there but . . .It all has to do with map-making rather than geography. Contributes to the thinking that instead of being connected in a mountain cordillera, this area is just a bump in the NW.

That bump means that I garden on the same longitude as San Diego, CA. High of 57°F with rain. Think I'd better head further south. Glop! glub, glub gurgle . . .

digitalSteve

Here is a link that might be useful: radar - northern rockies

Hehehe, and to think that in the early 70's, they were screaming that we were going into another ice age...

A century doesn't mean squat in the grand scheme of millions of years. When you think 'civilized man' has only been around for 5,000 years, it makes you realize 100 years isn't squat.

How's everyone's snow depth tonight? It started snowing here about 8pm last night, hasn't quit since.

--->Rob

When you think that all over the world 6.2 billion people are digging up and drilling for billions of tons of coal and oil thats been lying there undisturbed for millions of years, burning it and turning the sky into some sort of garbage tip for the last 100 years, is another thought.

Well, out here in the boonies we had freezing fog on Friday so that coated everything with a layer of ice -- trees, roads, everything. The snow as slowly accumulated since yesterday morn and I'm guessing there's about three inches. I'm just grateful there's been no wind with this system.

Hi, Pyro! Good bunch of folks here to share a board with. Pyro is a friend of mine from chat and he runs another board. Told him he needed to get over here cuz its a nice fun place. Glad he did. :)

Well, welcome, Pyro!

My snow has been about 2 3/4 feet total in the last three days that I measure then shovel off my bench, then it piles up, I measure then shovel...but has been flattening out so we only had about 2 feet in the yard this morning.
After Lucy ran and bounded through it and ate it and threw it all over, we only have about a foot and a half now...she sure is cute frolicking in the snow!
The spots under the trees seem higher but that is just all the snow falling off the pines.

After the major melt-down under the Pineapple Express and after all the blue sky and sunshine, we are returning to normal this morning. Here near the 49th parallel, our weather seems to now be sliding down out of the Canadian Rockies. In another month, this would mean bone-numbing cold but, as I say, it only amounts to a return to the normals of gray overcast and never reaching 32°.

So pleasant while it lasted, enjoyed an outing in the nearby forest yesterday. It was completely devoid of snow even beneath the trees. A little chilly as the wind was already changing but that just kept us moving to stay warm. Made the initial mistake of proceeding into a canyon - even with the icicles welcoming us near the entrance. Fortunately there was a path to a sunny overlook. It was a little tuff to turn back into the shadows and beat an escape back to the sunny parking lot.

The week ahead looks to be mornings of fog and afternoons of clouds with a continuing chance of snow - dreary, dreary.

digitS'
I see trees of green........ red roses too
I see 'em bloom..... for me and for you
And i think to myself.... what a wonderful world.

I see skies of blue..... clouds of white
Bright blessed days.... dark sacred nights
And i think to myself.... what a wonderful world.

The colors of a rainbow.... so pretty in the sky
Are also on the faces.... of people going by
I see friends shaking hands.... sayin' how do you do
They're really sayin'.... i love you.

I hear babies cry.... i watch them grow
They'll learn much more.... than i'll never know
And i think to myself.... what a wonderful world

Here, it finally switched to snow last night, so I was able to drive my son up for a day of XC skiing - there was about 8" of new snow where I let him off. The roads were snow-packed and icy the whole way up, and all melted the way down. I'll go pick him up in a couple of hours.

Its beautiful.

Thanks for the invite jali! I got out and shoveled about 8 inches of snow this morning just to find a nice layer if ice underneath from the rain on Friday night.

Should be an interesting drive to work tomorrow morning.

--->Rob