Front Range Winter Storm / Eastern Plains Blizzard of October 2009

How about an update? Well, I'll settle officially with 14" of snow at Greenwood Park (a neighborhood here in Centennial). Not exactly the 40"+ seen in the mountains or the 24" in other parts of the metro area, but still a decent total.

Living close to work (I feel like a genius for choosing an apartment as such), I have been able to make it into work the past two days. In fact, I never even put Der Schploder into four wheel drive. My winter driving skills are legitimately that good. Seriously, though, the roads haven't been that bad. I think they still may hold some of the summer heat... or maybe it's just the magnesium chloride.

While I did see some wind at my location, apparently it did not compare to that of the nearby plains. I would hardly say that blizzard conditions were met anywhere in the metro, but on the plains it is a certainty. I'm glad I'm not traveling (or heading back from a chase!).

This was an interesting storm. The trough dug in deeply and then stalled, leaving the upper level low over the Four Corners for two days. While the low level upslope component only briefly materialized at the beginning following frontal passage, the mid level flow continued to act conducively for heavy snowfall. It's not often that the winds will be northwesterly at the surface and the Denver-metro will see significant snow. It's also interesting to see the separation between the upper level low and the surface cyclone. They'll finally be close sometime tomorrow as the surface system is having a hard time doing anything to the ridge out east. The low will slide north and eventually meet up with the upper level low which is finally ejecting out of Colorado as I type. (thus the end to the snow here)


I'm not going to lie, I do enjoy a good snow storm.

Dann.

Ubiquitous Denver Winter Storm Post

Regarding the Winter Storm of October 27,28,29, 2009:

24 Hour Snowfall (20091028 0Z-0Z) total for Greenwood Park, Centennial, Colorado: 7"

Well, one could say that I'm a fan of apocalyptic snowfall and this storm hardly qualifies. Maybe I'm not close enough to the mountains? Unfortunately, we really haven't had a good low level upslope flow. Sure, areas are managing to get hammered with snow, but not me!

I'm a bit disappointed, but then again, the upper level low is still sitting over the Four Corners and the trough is still digging. At least no one is calling it a blizzard.

Dann.

Grace In A Strange Place

The NHC has decided to classify a cyclone in the far northeast Atlantic as a tropical storm. The storm passed through the Azores and is now off the coast of Spain. It should continue north and then become extra tropical and pushed through the British Isles.

Very interesting ... reminds me of Vince from a couple years back.

WTNT44 KNHC 051445
TCDAT4
TROPICAL STORM GRACE DISCUSSION NUMBER   3
NWS TPC/NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER MIAMI FL   AL092009
1100 AM AST MON OCT 05 2009

THE CONVECTIVE STRUCTURE OF GRACE HAS BEGUN TO DETERIORATE
SLIGHTLY...WITH THE RING OF DEEP CONVECTION AROUND THE CENTER
BECOMING LESS SYMMETRIC AND FRACTURED.  THE INITIAL INTENSITY IS
LOWERED TO 55 KT ON THIS ADVISORY BASED ON TROPICAL AND SUBTROPICAL
CLASSIFICATIONS OF 3.5...AND A 0644 UTC QUIKSCAT PASS WHICH
SUPPORTED MAXIMUM WINDS BETWEEN 50 AND 55 KT.  ALSO...GRACE IS NOW
OVER WATER NEAR 18C...AND THIS IS LIKELY INHIBITING STRONG
CONVECTIVE MIXING OF WINDS TO THE SURFACE.  SOME ADDITIONAL
WEAKENING IS ANTICIPATED OVER THE NEXT 24 HOURS...AND THE GLOBAL
MODELS ALL INDICATE THAT GRACE SHOULD BE ABSORBED BY A FRONT JUST
SOUTHWEST OF IRELAND BY TUESDAY MORNING.

GRACE IS ACCELERATING WITH AN INITIAL MOTION OF 30 DEGREES AT 27 KT.
THE CYCLONE IS EXPECTED TO TURN TOWARD THE NORTH-NORTHEAST AND SLOW
DOWN OVER THE NEXT 12 TO 24 HOURS AS IT MOVES NORTH OF THE STRONGEST
BELT OF MID-LATITUDE WESTERLIES...AND BECOMES ABSORBED BY THE
FRONTAL BOUNDARY TO ITS NORTHWEST.

DESPITE THE FACT THAT GRACE IS MOVING OVER VERY COLD WATERS...AN
AMSU PASS FROM EARLIER TODAY STILL SHOWS THE PRESENCE OF A MODERATE
TO DEEP WARM CORE IN ASSOCIATION WITH THE CYCLONE.  IN ADDITION...
THE WIND RADII HAVE BEEN ADJUSTED BASED ON THE 0644 UTC QUIKSCAT
PASS.

FORECAST POSITIONS AND MAX WINDS

INITIAL      05/1500Z 45.4N  16.4W    55 KT
12HR VT     06/0000Z 48.0N  14.6W    50 KT
24HR VT     06/1200Z...ABSORBED BY A FRONT

$$
FORECASTER BERG