Well here in Denver, we have went from a record high of 74 degrees on Saturday to 27 degrees with blowing snow less than 24 hours later.
The snow would be considered light to moderate if it weren't for the winds. They are sustained in the 30s and gusting to near 50 mph at times.
It is slowing travel a little but not stopping it. I think it is worse on the roads than in the air.
My house is in the southern approach path to Denver International Airport, and those planes have been coming over constantly all morning.
For those not familiar with Colorado weather, this is pretty typical stuff for us for this time of year. 40 to 50 degree temperature swings in 24 hours are just a way of life.
Weather here is very dramatic, largely made possible by the Rocky Mountains and Denver's relation to that wall of rock. It is any meteorologist's dream.
The same storm system impacting us today will move across the nation over the next few days, bringing a large area of wintry precipitation from Oklahoma and the Ozarks all the way up to the Great Lakes.
Ahead of the front, strong to severe thunderstorms will form later today and rumble into early next week.
The lower Mississippi River Valley will could see a few doozies by late Monday, with a few tornadoes not out of the question.
I have often thought about the weather in the Denver area, and if I would be able to endure such swings. It's quite the roller coaster ride... so, I propose a silly question.
ReplyDelete"It is often said that, astronomically, winter starts with the winter solstice and ends with the vernal equinox. In meteorology, it is by convention counted instead as the whole months of June, July and August in the Southern Hemisphere and December, January and February in the Northern Hemisphere. While in actuality, the most accurate start and end point is simply defined by when the first major wave of cold fronts and warm fronts hit a particular area, having no universally predetermined dates." - Wikipedia
With that being said, what concrete events can we determine as the beginning of Winter and the end of Winter? If I wanted to put a length, in days, of how long Winter "actually" lasted I would, perhaps, have my concrete dates be the first 1" snowfall and the last day with snow on the ground. The Winter of 2006-2007, here at OSNW3 (Oshkosh, WI), then, would have lasted from Nov 10 through Apr 12, a total of 153 days.
Granted this determination can be debated. If you were determine the length of Winter in "actuality" what would you use as your concrete events... based on where you live?