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Next Storm/Next Snow Forecast Discussion from the Cherrywood Observatory – April 30, 2019

This content was originally published by the Longmont Observer and is licensed under a Creative Commons license.

In Brief:

While 1 inch of snow has built up on grassy surfaces in Longmont, 1-3 inches of additional snow is possible overnight ending/changing to rain showers in the mid-morning Tuesday. Rain showers continue through Thursday AM. We warm to the 70'sF and dry out for the weekend.

Forecast Discussion:

The storm is underway. I have about 1 inch of snow on my rapidly greening grass. Snow will continue off and on through the night Monday into Tuesday morning. By 11am, we will be up to about 42F. The snow should change to rain around then. We keep warming to the lower 50'sF into the afternoon.

How much snow is left to fall in Longmont? The storm is large and very wet, but rainfall isn't far away to the south in the morning (Figure 1). The heavy snow period occurs before dawn Tuesday (Figure 2). The weatherunderground.com model has 1-3 inches yet to fall. The GFS (Figure 3) give us about 2 inches by dawn. The HRRR (Figure 4) gives us about 2.5-3 inches. That seems like a pretty good consensus. The GEM (not shown) also has about 2 inches but the NAM (not shown) gives us 7 inches. I think one of these models is not like the others.

I will point out that we never had a period of rain, as I predicted. I'm slapping my wrists.

The longer range forecast:

Rain showers continue from Tuesday to Thursday afternoon now and then. We warm to the 60'sF Thursday and the 70'sF for the weekend.

In the distant distant future (next Monday-Wednesday) there is another stormy and wet period possible. More later!

Figure 1: The forecast surface map for Tuesday AM from NCEP.
Figure 2: the graphical forecast for the next 10 days for Longmont, CO from weatherunderground.com
Figure 3: the forecast accumulated snowfall map from the GFS and weather5280.com for Colorado,over the next 2.5 days.
Figure 4: the forecast accumulated snowfall map from the HRRR and weather5280.com for Colorado ending 8am Tuesday.

Current Weather

Clear

Clear

52°F

UV Index
0 Low
Pressure
29.9 Rising
Visibility
7 miles
Dewpoint
43 °F
Humidity
73%
Wind
NNW 3.8 mph
Gust
8.4 mph
Wind Chill
52 °F

Hourly Forecast

Today
3 AM
48°F
Mostly clear
Today
4 AM
45°F
Clear
Today
5 AM
43°F
Mostly clear
Today
6 AM
41°F
Mostly clear
Today
7 AM
45°F
Partly sunny
Today
8 AM
52°F
Partly sunny
Today
9 AM
59°F
Partly sunny
Today
10 AM
65°F
Intermittent clouds
Today
11 AM
71°F
Intermittent clouds
Today
12 PM
75°F
Intermittent clouds
Today
1 PM
77°F
Intermittent clouds
Today
2 PM
75°F
Thunderstorms

7 Day Forecast

Mostly sunny

Wednesday

75 °F

Mostly sunny, pleasant and warmer


Partly cloudy

Wednesday Night

41 °F

Patchy clouds


Mostly cloudy w/ t-storms

Thursday

77 °F

Turning cloudy, warm; breezy, a stray thunderstorm this afternoon


Thunderstorms

Thursday Night

47 °F

A thunderstorm in spots this evening; otherwise, considerable cloudiness


Thunderstorms

Friday

69 °F

Mostly cloudy and not as warm with a couple of thundershowers


Thunderstorms

Friday Night

44 °F

Cloudy with a couple of thundershowers


Rain

Saturday

46 °F

Chilly with periods of rain and a thunderstorm


Rain and snow

Saturday Night

39 °F

Cloudy with rain, mixed with a little snow late


Mostly cloudy

Sunday

59 °F

Mostly cloudy and warmer; a stray afternoon thundershower


Partly cloudy

Sunday Night

36 °F

Partly cloudy


Sunrise and Sunset

Sunrise
6:08 AM
Sunset
7:49 PM

Based on AccuWeather data