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The Next Storm/Next Snow Forecast Discussion from the Cherrywood Observatory – October 27, 2017

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

Forecast Discussion:

I'm traveling again (I know!) so a brief update today... Some snow swept down the Front Range foothills and I-25 corridor. The CoCoRaHS reports come in at 7am local time, so I'll hop in and update this post to include notable (or not so notable) snowfall amounts in the morning.

** Longmont received a coating of snow at 0.1" - total water content w/rain was about 0.05" across the town.

Boulder received about 1-1.5", Estes Park about 1.5-2", Berthoud received a Trace, Fort Collins received a Trace, Denver received a Trace to an inch on the west side, The Palmer Divide picked up a Trace to an inch in places. **

At 10pm Thursday evening (Figure 1) the front was clear of the state in the south and the small batch of falling snow was down in the SE corner. Temperatures were getting very chilly at that time as well (Figure 2).

Figure 1: Surface analysis from Thursday PM.

Figure 2: Surface temperatures from Thursday PM.

In the longer range:

A pair of troughs in the upper air pattern will sweep over us (as northwest flow aloft continues, little fronts can hit at any time). The NWS and weatherunderground models show the Monday morning trough to be the more significant snow maker.  Figure 3 is the total GFS snowfall total after the Thursday storm through Monday night.  It looks more impressive than what we just experienced, still not a lot of snow.  One other model (not shown since it is an outlier) has the Tuesday storm being a big snow maker... we'll see!

Halloween Forecast: Our old forecast had it warm and clear on Halloween.  The models thought the jet stream would be a few hundred miles further north... now not so much.

With some clouds and a chance (15%) of rain/snow, Halloween may have a high of only 41F and a Low of 31F. At 7pm it should be about 34F with west breezes of about 3-6mph.

Figure 3: Total snowfall AFTER the snow finished Thursday PM to Tuesday AM.

Current Weather

Mostly sunny

Mostly sunny

60°F

UV Index
4 Moderate
Pressure
29.59 Steady
Visibility
9 miles
Dewpoint
46 °F
Humidity
60%
Wind
W 4.9 mph
Gust
15.1 mph
Wind Chill
60 °F

Hourly Forecast

Today
10 AM
59°F
Mostly cloudy
Today
11 AM
62°F
Cloudy
Today
12 PM
65°F
Cloudy
Today
1 PM
67°F
Mostly cloudy
Today
2 PM
68°F
Mostly cloudy
Today
3 PM
70°F
Mostly cloudy
Today
4 PM
68°F
Mostly cloudy
Today
5 PM
66°F
Cloudy
Today
6 PM
63°F
Thunderstorms
Today
7 PM
59°F
Cloudy
Today
8 PM
56°F
Cloudy
Today
9 PM
53°F
Cloudy

7 Day Forecast

Thunderstorms

Friday

70 °F

Mostly cloudy with a couple of thundershowers this afternoon; gusty winds and small hail can accompany any downpour


Thunderstorms

Friday Night

44 °F

Cloudy; a couple of showers and a thunderstorm this evening followed by periods of rain late; gusty winds and small hail can accompany any downpour


Rain

Saturday

47 °F

Chilly with periods of rain and a thunderstorm; travel in the foothills and mountains will be slippery due to snow


Rain and snow

Saturday Night

36 °F

Cloudy with rain, mixed with a little snow late; travel in the foothills and mountains will be slippery due to snow


Mostly cloudy

Sunday

61 °F

Mostly cloudy and warmer


Intermittent clouds

Sunday Night

36 °F

A thunderstorm in spots in the evening; otherwise, partly cloudy


Partly sunny

Monday

71 °F

Partly sunny, pleasant and warmer


Partly cloudy

Monday Night

45 °F

Partly cloudy


Mostly sunny

Tuesday

73 °F

Pleasant with sunshine and patchy clouds


Partly cloudy

Tuesday Night

43 °F

Partly cloudy


Sunrise and Sunset

Sunrise
6:06 AM
Sunset
7:51 PM

Based on AccuWeather data