This content was originally published by the Longmont Observer and is licensed under a Creative Commons license.
Forecast Discussion:
The big sloppy western storm system(s) are dumping their moisture in the western U.S states. Precipitation stops at the continental divide, for the most part (Figure 1). State temperatures are still above average this afternoon (Figure 2) with Longmont at about 8 F warmer than we'd expect for this date.
Figure 1: The forecast surface map for Wednesday PM. From NCEP.
The longer range forecast:
The mountains still get a lot of snow over the next 5 days while we 'may' get a coating to an inch of snow (though temperatures still look to warm to me - like last Friday - see Figure 5). More later!
Eclipse Invitation:
My readers are invited to the (yes it's real) Cherrywood Observatory to observe the total lunar eclipse Sunday evening January 20th.
The scopes will be set up at 8:30pm (the ‘dark bite’ begins 8:34p). Totality begins at 9:41pm. Sunlight begins to return on the limb of the moon at 10:43pm. The last of the ‘dark bite’ will leave at 11:51pm. I’ll keep the observatory open if people want to stay that long after totality begins. If it is cloudy or snowing, text or call to confirm that we’re still open. Contact me if you need the address (720-378-2771 - text your name and request).
(Figure 4.)
Weather for the eclipse: Partly to Mostly Cloudy skies are expected (80% cloudy at first then clearing some). There is a 4% chance of a shower. Temperatures will be around 31F at the start of eclipse dropping to 28F before midnight. (Figure 5)