10/28/2009-10/29/2009 Winter Storm

[Allan Jeffers]

Its the heavy wet stuff too. Got around 6" give or take in the Montbello area. Will try to grab some photos today

 

[Robert Hettchen]

This is Unbelievable!! the latest snowfall report from Pinecliffe Co, is 35 inches!! with another 20 to 30 inches possible!! I wish I was there so bad. Been watching this storm batter Co. since last night. Cant wait to see what kind of snowfall totals we see at the close of this system!! However, my attention has been turned slightly to the new meso discussion that was posted a little while ago!! Beautiful lightning to the west!!

 

[Tim Stoecklein]

We're definitely not getting the love here in the Springs that you all are getting up north. I have not gone out for an official measurement, but I'd guess 2" max here at the house. We should see a bit more, with a couple waves coming through tonight, but I doubt we see the double digits already posted on the north side of the Palmer Divide.

 

[Greg Stumpf]

17" has been the official accumulation so far in Boulder, where I am at the moment for a workshop. However, there has been some melting and compression so 17" isn't the actual snow depth (more like 12-14"). Also, the liquid water content of the snow here is very low, estimated 20-to-1, very much like lake-effect snow, and is real easy to sweep off the cars. It doesn't look exactly like the 1.5 foot storms I recall on the East Coast, but it is impressive nonetheless, sticking to everything. And still snowing moderately in town.

But S and SW of Denver in the foothills - I can't imagine what that will end up looking like!

 

[Tony Laubach]

17" has been the official accumulation so far in Boulder, where I am at the moment for a workshop. However, there has been some melting and compression so 17" isn't the actual snow depth (more like 12-14"). Also, the liquid water content of the snow here is very low, estimated 20-to-1, very much like lake-effect snow, and is real easy to sweep off the cars. It doesn't look exactly like the 1.5 foot storms I recall on the East Coast, but it is impressive nonetheless, sticking to everything. And still snowing moderately in town.

But S and SW of Denver in the foothills - I can't imagine what that will end up looking like!

You picked the PERFECT time to come up here as I think its safe to say that the totals of this storm were well above what anyone was thinking! I was at 14" this evening but haven't been out for a while to measure and figure we've probably added a few inches to that. This is INSANE!!!

 

[Eian Greene]

Out here in Calhan, I cannot say we have picked up much from this storm so far. About 2-3" max here in town. Outside of town, I'm pretty confident that it pretty much just blew away with the winds we've had. Right now, it is quite calm.

 

[Tim Stoecklein]

Measured 3.5" of snow here near the center of C.Springs. There's still a few flakes flying, but the wind should blow most of it away today.

UC-Colorado Springs gets the morning off, but they didn't make the call until my students were already at work this morning....bet they were happy!

 

[Jeff Lawson]

Somewhere in the neighborhood of 24-26" here in SW Littleton. The roads actually look decent, but I'm getting over a cold and didn't feel like digging my car out, so I decided to take a day of vacation. It appears most of my neighbors are staying put as well.

A couple of photos (from about 8:00 AM MDT)...

 

[Patrick Martin]

Probably a healthy 18+ inches at my house and still coming down. Was out to clear snow from trees and shrubs last night and you would not know it this morning. Pretty sure a couple of my smaller evergreens will be a lost cause after this storm.

The wife's work decided to close for today at 8pm last night, but mine is open for "business as usual" of course (even the folks being laid off today had to come in). The neighborhood streets where I live were passable but the unplowed portions were tricky. The interstates are passable but have very low traffic volume as schools are closed and many businesses are as well. There is no lane designation on the highway through Denver and are completely snowpacked so extremely slick.

 

[Mark Blue]

That's a bummer that you had to go to work today Patrick. I'd estimate that we have 15" at my house in SE Aurora and it's still coming down here as well. I received a reverse 911 type call from work this morning that the center was closed for the day, so I lucked out and didn't have to work. Both my wife and I work at the VA Health Administration Center in Denver. The group she's in is working from home using Microsoft Live Meeting, but I'm taking it easy and just surfing the internet. All in all a substantial fall snow storm for Denver that will go down in the annals of Denver storm history.

 

[Scott Hammel]

Mark me down for 16 inches here in Englewood. This was a doozy for sure! These were from last night about 2AM.

 

[Allan Jeffers]

Roads are a sloppy mess here near the Montbello area. I would say we are 8" + range here:

 

[Charles Kuster]

Nice pictures Scott, Jeff, and Allan! I was definitely disappointed that I could not experience this snow event as it turned out to be relatively significant. It looks like Ft. Collins received about 18.5" of snow with approximately 14" of that total falling between 7:00am on the 28th and 7:00am on the 29th. The most intense snow occurred over the elevated terrain of Jefferson County where a CoCoRaHS observer located 3.9 miles southeast of Conifer reported 27" in a 24 hour period!

For comparison, Leadville (elevation 10,152ft) received about 2.5" of snow. This is just another example of how upslope events do not affect Lake County despite the fact that it is located east of the Continental Divide.

Currently, a moderate to heavy band of snow has set up east and northeast of Denver. Winds are also quite strong with Akron reporting 37mph gusts and Limon reporting 38mph gusts and 1/4 mile visibility. I am glad I-70 is closed as travel would be very dangerous at this time.

 

[Allan Jeffers]

The freaky thing is? This storm hit early in the season. Actualy fall got here pretty quick, once the leaves started to change, it did not take long for the leaves to fall off.

 

[Tony Laubach]

Bagged 21" at my place here in Westminster... more on my blog!