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Forecast Discussion:
The big weather story is the tremendous cold pouring out of Canada down into the middle of the U.S. The wind chill (the effective temperature felt by human skin blending temperature and wind speed) map shows wind chill values down below -60°F. Truly amazing (Figure 1).
We are sheltered from this extreme air by our elevation (this air is dense and shallow, relatively speaking) and the upper air flow is directing it to the east (see yesterday's discussion ). There is a frontal boundary just touching the northeast corner of the state (Figure 2) marking the true edge of the arctic flow.
The longer range forecast:
Our longer range forecast is getting more and more mundane. Figure 3 shows temperatures warming to the 50's F for the weekend as a ridge moves in. Our end-of-weekend storm is fading off the map, so to speak. Up in the mountains, that Pacific storm will still bring moisture - Estes Park, for example, may pick up an inch or three this weekend with ongoing daily snow chances (Figure 4). We cool down then, but the next 10 days does not contain significant precipitation from the weatherundergound model, at least.
