Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Snow Mountain Ranch Forecast

Thurs 7:49am

TODAY
Partly sunny. Highs 11 to 17. West winds 10 to 15 mph in the afternoon.
TONIGHT
Mostly cloudy. A 30 percent chance of snow showers after midnight. Lows near zero. West winds 10 to 15 mph in the evening becoming light.
CHRISTMAS DAY
Mostly cloudy with a 20 percent chance of snow. highs around 19.
FRIDAY NIGHT
Mostly cloudy with a 20 percent chance of snow. lows 5 below to 1 above zero. West winds 10 to 15 mph. Wind chill readings 10 below to 20 below zero after midnight.
SATURDAY
Mostly sunny. Highs around 19. West winds 10 to 15 mph in the afternoon.
SATURDAY NIGHT
Mostly clear. Lows 5 below to 15 below zero.
SUNDAY AND SUNDAY NIGHT
Partly cloudy. Highs in the lower 20s. lows around 4 below.
MONDAY AND MONDAY NIGHT
Mostly cloudy with a 20 percent chance of snow. Highs around 20. Lows 1 below to 9 below zero.

Monday, December 21, 2009

Snow Mountain Ranch 2009--Urgent Update**

URGENT - WINTER WEATHER MESSAGE
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DENVER CO
453 AM MST THU DEC 24 2009

...GUSTY WINDS AND DRIFTING SNOW CONTINUE OVER THE NORTHEAST
PLAINS...

.A LARGE WINTER STORM DEVELOPING OVER THE GREAT PLAINS WILL
CONTINUE TO PRODUCE GUSTY WINDS ACROSS THE NORTHEAST PLAINS OF
COLORADO THROUGH TODAY. BLOWING AND DRIFTING SNOW LAST NIGHT HAD
BLOCKED SOME RURAL ROADS. SNOWFALL WAS DECREASING ACROSS THE
EASTERN PLAINS AND WILL END IN ALL AREAS LATER THIS MORNING.

TOTAL SNOWFALL ACROSS THE PLAINS AND FRONT RANGE FOOTHILLS FROM
THIS STORM HAS RANGED BETWEEN 5 AND 10 INCHES IN MOST LOCATIONS.

STAY TUNED TO THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE OR YOUR LOCAL NEWS
MEDIA FOR THE LATEST UPDATES CONCERNING THIS WINTER STORM. TRAVEL
EASTWARD INTO NEBRASKA AND KANSAS IS NOT RECOMMENDED AS THE
IMPACT OF THIS STORM WILL BE MORE SEVERE THE FURTHER EAST YOU GO.

...WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY IS CANCELLED...

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN DENVER HAS CANCELLED THE WINTER
WEATHER ADVISORY.

STORM TOTAL ACCUMULATIONS RANGED BETWEEN 5 AND 10 INCHES IN MOST
LOCATIONS. GUSTY WINDS IN AREAS EAST OF A LINE FROM BRIGGSDALE TO
FORT MORGAN AND DEER TRAIL WILL STILL PRODUCE SOME DRIFTING SNOW
TODAY.

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Snow Mountain Ranch 2009

Greetings All!!
We are closing in on yet another Wonderful Christmas in the Rockies! I am definitely looking forward to spending time with all of the family and sharing in many fun activities and the Reason for this joyous season!

I would like to give you all an update on the weather and travel across Colorado during our time together. We are currently sitting at a forecast time of about 204 hours out from today. For those traveling on Thursday expect some light snow showers possible in the Central Mountains and Berthoud Pass. Friday travelers could see less of a chance of snow along the Pass. There is no significant weather showing in the models at this time for travelers arriving. Temperatures are ranging from low teens at night to mid to upper 20's during the day. The only significant weather pattern showing up is about 264 hours out on Sunday. An upper level trough is projected to impact the central mountains with light to moderate snow accumulation lasting into Monday morning. Any inch accumulation is difficult to predict at this time. The position of this upper level disturbance will play an important role as to the amount of snow we could expect to see at the YMCA. As the forecast window decreases this will be easier to track and predict the significance of this Sunday storm. More to come in the following days!

Below is a Temperature grid for Thursday evening:

Thursday, October 29, 2009

Snow 10/29/2009

This large winter storm is finally starting to depart with snow tapering off through this evening. Total snowfall so far is 16.0 inches with very light snow still continuing. Tomorrow should be much warmer than today and provide some decent sunshine most of the afternoon. This weekend and first part of next week will be clear and sunny for the most part and temperatures will try to make it back to near normal by middle part of next week.









Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Strong Early Winter Storm



An early winter storm has hit the Denver Metro area with a strong punch. Temperatures struggled to reach towards 30F degrees today. Snowfall continued throughout much of the day off and on as the strong Upper Level low slowly moved eastward from the Four Corners. By 7:45pm MDT I measured 10.5 inches here in Centennial.

More pictures to follow tomorrow....

Sunday, August 30, 2009

My First Tornados




6/7/09 Chase # 3

Much to catch up on!...

Caught Tornado number 1 and 2 today. The unfortunate part of today was I didn’t have my regular camera with me or any other chasing gear. All I had was my phone; Thank you Verizon for your VZ Navigator coverage in Southern Arapahoe and North Western Elbert counties. I happened to be in the Aurora area when tornado number 1 touched down. Tornado sirens were blaring and the sky was very dark. I was so excited to see my very first tornado. With not really having a plan to storm chase today, I decided to give it my best effort and try to get just a little bit closer to this tornado and maybe be able to snag a couple pictures from my camera phone. I took what pictures I could and kept trying to get closer to this “tube”. I was also trying to stay out of the major hail core that was falling from the northern edge of the core. I made my way to Southland’s Mall where significant damage was strewn about. At this point I was observing that the storm was redeveloping to the south of my current position and looked to be re-intensifying. I headed south towards the Kiowa area as fast as I could to try to catch up with this re-development. Storm motion was almost due east and at a fairly fast pace. As soon as I got far enough south of the core I headed due east towards the base of the now-present wall cloud several miles east. Upon my travel eastward a funnel cloud formed and touched down making this Tornado number 2 near Deer Trail on I-70. This second tornado did not last long but long enough for a few pictures to tell the story. As the tornado development died off and continue to move eastward I decide to call it a day and make my way back home. This was a great chase day and bagged my first two tornados for the afternoon.

Chase Miles: 78.0









Monday, May 25, 2009

Solo Storm Chase May 24th


I went on my first solo storm chase on Sunday May 24th. I was heading home from church around 1pm, noticed that the skies were looking very ripe for storm development. Upon looking at a surface plot I noticed a convergence line that had setup in the Denver metro area and storms were firing off this line and propagating northeast. I made a quick look at updated imagery and decided to grab my gear and head out to try to catch some storms. As soon as I got the vehicle setup I noticed a tornado warning had been issued for the northern Denver area. This storm fired off the convergence line near Commerce City and rapidly developed into a rotating mesocyclone. A couple of colleagues were already northeast of this tornado warned cell and catching some amazing photos from it. I headed north on I25, then up on I76 to Hudson. Filled up on fuel and received an updated radar scan on GR from a wifi spot (Thanks Eric!). Decided to head east on Highway 52 trying to beat a 1.0” hail producing storm before it crossed the highway. I arrived in Prospect Valley at the intersection of Highway 52 and 79 with only experiencing heavy rain and small hail. I collected some photos and continued heading south on Highway 79 towards Bennett. From Bennett I headed east and stopped in Strasburg. I received several updated radar scans and collected some nice photos and video of the gust front shelf cloud advancing eastward. GR radar was showing a cell moving north towards Deer Trail so I set out to try to intercept. Arrived in Deer Trail but couldn’t get ahead of the storm so I changed course and continued to watch the shelf cloud rolling eastward and showing some small scale low level circulation. I watched this cell for awhile until it lined out, then decided to head back home and caught up with some other chasers for some dinner. Made for a great day with good photos and fun! Total Miles: 188 miles.
Pictures:
Video:

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Storms on the plains tonight




Strong storms are rocking western and central Nebraska tonight. Strong instability and an abundant moisture field is firing off these severe storms. With dew points still in the 60's and surface convergence boundary line, this provides for a great mechanism to fire off these storms. Strong southerly low level jet and a decent area of CAPE will keep these storms going into the night.

North Platte is getting hammered by these storms. Rotation is noted on the storm south of North Platte with a low level change in velocity of 40 knots, fairly strong!

Tuesday, May 5, 2009




A severe storm rocking southern Nebraska this evening. This is just east of my old hometown of McCook, NE. This storm was putting down 1.25 inch hail across Furnas county.

Thursday, April 30, 2009

Severe Storms in NE Colorado tonight




This 0.50 degree scan from Goodland is looking north towards Yuma, CO and Imperial, NE