12/19/06 - 12/22/06 FCST: NM / TX / OK / KS / CO / NE / SD / IA (WINTER PRECIP)

[Tony Laubach]

The first flurries are starting to fall in the Denver Metro Area and the radar is showing snow increasing in coverage and intensity over Eastern Colorado as we speak. Winter Storm Warnings have been replaced by Blizzard Warnings in the metro area as total storm accumulations in the city will range from 1 to 2 feet. I'm working the morning shift here at KMGH - Channel 7 Denver and will be covering the snow through the morning before I am set free to "chase" locally as the storm should be in its peak between noon and midnight tonight.

 

[Jordan Hartley]

Man this system is really gaining strength. It looks to have stalled right over the the Co/Ks border. Also starting to see feeder bands start to develop close to the center of circulation S of Dodge City moving NNE rapidly and another one right along I-35 between Wichita and OKC. Were 3/3 this year on big winter storms and this looks to be the most impressive one yet. It looks like an inland hurricane of course the sustained winds arent near hurricane force the structure of the storm looks very impressive!

Edit- 6:20pm Cold setup in progress feeder ban south of Dodge City is gaining strength. This cold core event looks identical to the Oct 28 storm that put down over 30+ tornadoes out near Dodge City,Ks. Is El Nino playing any part in how strong these last three system have been? Oh and BTW the center of circulation for this storm has actually travelled 105 miles WNW of where it was 6 hours ago which tells me this thing just got a shot of roids and fixing to come screaming out of the plains tommorow. All of you out east get ready for the blizzard of the century!!!!!