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The Front Range Forcast: Warm, possible Christmas snow

In Brief

Very warm dry weather all week with "maybe" a Christmas Eve storm.

Forecast Discussion:

A persistent western ridge will give us really warm and calm conditions through Friday.  In Colorado, this is shorts and t-shirt weather (Figure 1). See the Longer Range forecast for what 'might' happen for Christmas.

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Figure 1: the 10 day graphical forecast for Longmont from weatherunderground.com

The Longer Range Forecast:

The upper air patter for Christmas Eve, from the GFS (Figure 2) is a weird mess.  I've not seen a scramble quite like this before.  It gives the mountains some snow but nothing really down to I-25 by midnight Dec 25/Dec 26 (Figure 3). The Canadian model looks more 'normal' to me (but still messy - Figure 4) and gives us a whopping 8-10 inches of snow Christmas Eve (Figure 5)!! 

This forecast is still very far away and there is a LOT of disagreement between the models.  Send a note to Santa requesting snow for Christmas! Check back here!

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Figure 2: the Christmas Eve 500mb upper air forecast map from the GFS and tropicaltidbits.com
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Figure 3: the GFS snowfall totals through Christmas night midnight from the GFS and tropicaltidbits.com
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Figure 4: the Christmas Eve 500mb upper air forecast map from the Canadian model and tropicaltidbits.com
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Figure 5: the Canadian snowfall totals through Christmas night midnight from the GFS and tropicaltidbits.com

 


About the Author: John Ensworth

John Ensworth used to work from Longmont as the PI for the NASA through the IGES (The Institute for Global Environmental Strategies). He now teaches technology, algebra, astronomy, meteorology, film school, and Lego robotics to middle/high school.
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Current Weather

Mostly cloudy

Mostly cloudy

75°F

UV Index
2 Low
Pressure
30.1 Rising
Visibility
8 miles
Dewpoint
52 °F
Humidity
45%
Wind
NNW 4.9 mph
Gust
10.4 mph
Wind Chill
75 °F

Hourly Forecast

Today
5 PM
91°F
Thunderstorms
Today
6 PM
89°F
Mostly cloudy
Today
7 PM
86°F
Partly sunny w/ t-storms
Today
8 PM
82°F
Partly sunny w/ t-storms
Today
9 PM
78°F
Mostly clear
Today
10 PM
73°F
Mostly clear
Today
11 PM
71°F
Clear
Tomorrow
12 AM
69°F
Clear
Tomorrow
1 AM
67°F
Clear
Tomorrow
2 AM
65°F
Clear
Tomorrow
3 AM
65°F
Clear
Tomorrow
4 AM
65°F
Partly cloudy

7 Day Forecast

Mostly cloudy w/ t-storms

Friday

92 °F

Turning cloudy with a thunderstorm in parts of the area this afternoon


Partly cloudy w/ t-storms

Friday Night

63 °F

A thunderstorm in spots early this evening; otherwise, partly cloudy


Partly sunny w/ t-storms

Saturday

92 °F

Partly sunny with a thunderstorm in spots in the afternoon


Partly cloudy

Saturday Night

61 °F

Partly cloudy


Mostly cloudy w/ t-storms

Sunday

93 °F

Variable cloudiness with a thundershower in spots in the afternoon


Mostly cloudy

Sunday Night

62 °F

Increasing cloudiness


Mostly cloudy

Monday

93 °F

Mostly cloudy


Mostly clear

Monday Night

61 °F

Clear to partly cloudy


Intermittent clouds

Tuesday

94 °F

Intervals of clouds and sun


Intermittent clouds

Tuesday Night

62 °F

Partly cloudy


Sunrise and Sunset

Sunrise
5:46 AM
Sunset
8:27 PM

Based on AccuWeather data