Colorado Weather Discussion Thread

[pbourdon]

Amazing to go from most snow in 30 years to least snow in 30 years in a matter of months.........

the law of averages is a cruel, cruel bitch my friend especially in locations where the average is a mere 300 or so inches.

[PowTron]

On another note, Japan and AK continue to go off...

Bastards.

[daviski]

^^^well that truly is comforting


I was due to fly into denver tomorrow, but I really think I must cancel (again)

it seems that even where there is some recent snow the trend is still an immediate reset to sunny and warming

Above timberline off the passes sounds like shit and I'm guessing that even sheltered trees are a mess

trees inside the resorts must be crusty tracks

it kills me -- and yes, whine I must

[grskier]

Why not head down to the San Juans...

[bean]

What a crazy cycle. Thanks for creating/sharing the SWE graphs. Amazing to go from most snow in 30 years to least snow in 30 years in a matter of months. If it doesn't get wet in April, the December/January butthurt will seem petty compared to the summer drought direness.

Reservoirs aren't in terrible shape thanks to last year. If we have a dry summer, and another bad year (el nino coming...great), then it'll be time to panic.

[montanaskier]

El Nino will mean another winter of cut off lows and southern storms, but if next year can eek out 300", still below average but better than this year by far, i'd be pretty stoked.

[funkendrenchman]

El Nino will mean another winter of cut off lows and southern storms, but if next year can eek out 300", still below average but better than this year by far, i'd be pretty stoked.

It's gonna be pretty tough to do worse than 100" since Thanksgiving.

[daviski]

Why not head down to the San Juans...

I was going to do that, but trends seem bad everywhere -- I've never skiied T-ride and was considering that to make the best of a bad situation....but why squander my first time at Telluride on marginal shit? Wolf Creek is the only decent option and I know and love it -- but not for several days

I'm resolved, its been a bad year -- better luck next time

My carry over credit w/ SWA may still go to colorado, my wife has never seen any western mountain range so we'll go this summer -- Leadville. brace yourself

[PowTrees]

I was going to do that, but trends seem bad everywhere -- I've never skiied T-ride and was considering that to make the best of a bad situation....but why squander my first time at Telluride on marginal shit? Wolf Creek is the only decent option and I know and love it -- but not for several days

I'm resolved, its been a bad year -- better luck next time

My carry over credit w/ SWA may still go to colorado, my wife has never seen any western mountain range so we'll go this summer -- Leadville. brace yourself

Seems like a good winter to visit telluride and soco? Thought southern Colorado was at least average this year. Would head down to telluride or somewhere southwestern myself, but responsibility has me locked down...

[daviski]

Seems like a good winter to visit telluride and soco? Thought southern Colorado was at least average this year. Would head down to telluride or somewhere southwestern myself, but responsibility has me locked down...

I think you are probably right that they are getting good if not great snow totals, but they are forecast to have some bad temps

I don't mean to clog up this thread, but NOAA is forecasting 65 for aspen, 50 along all the front range, 65 also at Toas -- i

You guys can tell me what it's actually like on the ground there, but it seems pretty bad-- wolf creek is an island but..

[bean]

ftp://ftp-fc.sc.egov.usda.gov/CO/Sno...pdate_snow.pdf

Sucks everywhere, even the spots that suck less.

[grskier]

I think you are probably right that they are getting good if not great snow totals, but they are forecast to have some bad temps

I don't mean to clog up this thread, but NOAA is forecasting 65 for aspen, 50 along all the front range, 65 also at Toas -- i

You guys can tell me what it's actually like on the ground there, but it seems pretty bad-- wolf creek is an island but..

Taos, T-Ride, etc should be epic spring skiing this year.... but if you're of the "I'll only fly out to ski pow," crowd... then I'm sorry.

[montanaskier]

it's gonna be warm and no pow but like GR said, the resort and non resort corn should be going off htis weekend.

[BDKeg]

You guys can tell me what it's actually like on the ground there, but it seems pretty bad-- wolf creek is an island but..

it's going to be warm and the snow is going to be soft in the sun, nice spring conditions that's for sure.

[daviski]

well, I already regret cancelling but it would have just been a distraction, now I can start training for alaska in earnest at my local gym.

Enjoy it out there and I hope April goes off for CO, and Ut

[wolfelot]

Does anybody have a crystal ball regarding what is coming after the next ten days? Major cycle shift?

[grrrr]

Does anybody have a crystal ball regarding what is coming after the next ten days?

Fire season.

[cmsummit]

I'm starting to feel a little uneasy about the lack of snowpack and how that's going to effect our water supplies and fire danger this summer. This weather is shaping up very similarly to the spring of '02 when we saw no snow in March and April and then May was hot as hell. That was the summer of the big fires. I think we ended up somewhere around 40% of average snowpack at the end of April. It's not quite that dire just yet, but at this point we're certainly trending in the wrong direction. I never really put much thought into it before, but I think I need to have a plan in place for fire evacuation.

[BDKeg]

I'm starting to feel a little uneasy about the lack of snowpack and how that's going to effect our water supplies and fire danger this summer. This weather is shaping up very similarly to the spring of '02 when we saw no snow in March and April and then May was hot as hell. That was the summer of the big fires. I think we ended up somewhere around 40% of average snowpack at the end of April. It's not quite that dire just yet, but at this point we're certainly trending in the wrong direction. I never really put much thought into it before, but I think I need to have a plan in place for fire evacuation.

yea, definitely not good for any really bad beetle kill areas. All that stuff is just a tinder box.

[PowTrees]

I'm starting to feel a little uneasy about the lack of snowpack and how that's going to effect our water supplies and fire danger this summer. This weather is shaping up very similarly to the spring of '02 when we saw no snow in March and April and then May was hot as hell. That was the summer of the big fires. I think we ended up somewhere around 40% of average snowpack at the end of April. It's not quite that dire just yet, but at this point we're certainly trending in the wrong direction. I never really put much thought into it before, but I think I need to have a plan in place for fire evacuation.

Actually according to blizzard's website (thanks again, please keep it up), think we're slightly below 2002 spring swe. IMHO it was that draught which weakened the trees to where the beetles could cause the epidemic damage. There's such vast areas of dead trees now, it is scary. The land needs a cycle of fire, but not something any of us want to be in the middle of. Hoping I don't have to pack bags and prepare evacuation plans, but it's looking likely.

Grilling season is on!

[montanaskier]

anyone that lives in the mtns close to forest should always have evac plans and a few things like important papers and such at the ready.

[concretejungle]

Every year with the fucking forest fires, you guys are worse than a sewing circle. It could rain a bunch. Emergency plans are are must

[PluckyP]

It's supposed to get up to 66 in town on Sunday here in the 'boat. Not good at all. At this rate, I think it's damn near impossible the mountain stays open until the 15th. With that being said, at least there's always fishing and biking to look forward to.

[PowTrees]

Every year with the fucking forest fires, you guys are worse than a sewing circle. It could rain a bunch. Emergency plans are are must

Nobody worried about fire last summer. The ups guy is running around in shorts sweating in breckenridge today. Precipitation is a nice thought, but maybe you should get real about what part of the weather cycle summit and eagle county are in, and it can be real dry...

[concretejungle]

UPS guys are not the measure of what sane people wear.

There is always fire danger in CO just because Summit/EC mags are noticing this year doesn't make the threat every other year any less.

With regards to weather patterns this La Nina year should reinforce that every year is a crap shoot.