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Forecast Discussion:
There was real wind around the Front Range with gusts reported that hit the 55-76mph range. I think I saw Rocky Flats topped 90mph yesterday. Wow. There were some destructive fires out on the Plains with homes and structures lost. As far as I can tell, Monday PM, Longmont escaped harm. The high wind and fire weather warnings have expired around sunset Monday.
Very spring like (and dry) weather will now be the norm for the next 10 days. Figure 1 is the upper air map for this morning (Tuesday) and the trough- that brought down the cold air and kicked up the wind- is pulling off to the northeast. The ridge you can see (blue line) on the west coast will now become our weather reality.
Watch for temperatures to climb into the 60's and 70'sF for the next 10 days... lets see why below...
The longer range forecast:
By Thursday (Figure 2) the ridge is almost overhead. Really warm and dry conditions continue. Figure 3 is the same map for next weekend and the ridge IS on our heads (the pink dot). This 'omega' shape in the 'jet stream' tends to be very stable and not move to either the west or the east. Uh oh. Dry, warm weather continues.
But what about precipitation? The northwest flow as the ridge approaches will keep snow going in the mountains for another day. Figure 4 is the next 10 days of snowfall accumulation. Western Colorado keeps getting snow, but the Longmont/pink dot is snow-less. But will it rain? Figure 5 is the same 10 days period but with liquid equivalence (snow or rain). We are in one of the few spots in the nation that is rain-less - like Phoenix and Yuma.
