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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

Sunny

Sunny

56°F

UV Index
2 Low
Pressure
29.92 Falling
Visibility
8 miles
Dewpoint
46 °F
Humidity
67%
Wind
WSW 1.6 mph
Gust
3.4 mph
Wind Chill
56 °F

Hourly Forecast

Today
8 AM
54°F
Sunny
Today
9 AM
58°F
Mostly sunny
Today
10 AM
63°F
Mostly sunny
Today
11 AM
67°F
Mostly sunny
Today
12 PM
73°F
Mostly sunny
Today
1 PM
78°F
Mostly sunny
Today
2 PM
83°F
Mostly sunny
Today
3 PM
83°F
Mostly sunny
Today
4 PM
82°F
Mostly sunny
Today
5 PM
81°F
Mostly sunny
Today
6 PM
78°F
Mostly sunny
Today
7 PM
76°F
Mostly sunny

7 Day Forecast

Mostly sunny

Sunday

83 °F

Mostly sunny; breezy this afternoon


Mostly clear

Sunday Night

50 °F

Mainly clear


Partly sunny w/ t-storms

Monday

73 °F

Not as warm with clouds and sunshine; an afternoon thunderstorm in spots


Thunderstorms

Monday Night

47 °F

Cloudy with a couple of thundershowers


Thunderstorms

Tuesday

57 °F

Mostly cloudy and cooler with a couple of showers and a thunderstorm, mainly later


Intermittent clouds

Tuesday Night

34 °F

Partly cloudy and colder


Partly sunny

Wednesday

73 °F

Partly sunny, pleasant and warmer


Mostly clear

Wednesday Night

40 °F

Mainly clear


Mostly sunny

Thursday

82 °F

Mostly sunny; breezy in the afternoon


Mostly cloudy

Thursday Night

47 °F

Mostly cloudy


Sunrise and Sunset

Sunrise
5:41 AM
Sunset
8:14 PM

Based on AccuWeather data