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Next Storm/Next Snow Forecast Discussion from the Cherrywood Observatory – May 4, 2019

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

In Brief:

Beautiful warm weather is the only story through Monday. Then a trough and cold front move in. We cool 20-30F starting Tuesday and rain (and possible snow) continues off through next weekend - and beyond.

Forecast Discussion:

High pressure at the surface (Figure 1) and a ridge aloft (not shown) mean mostly clear skies and warm temperatures in the 70'sF this weekend (Figure 2). This is an excellent time to get out and play.

The Longer Range Forecast:

As advertised for days now, a strong cold front (blue front line in Figure 2) arrives Monday afternoon/evening. The trough is so large that it has other troughs in it (Figure 3). This is a big, slow-to-change pattern change. Temperatures drop and mountain snows resume. Higher elevations will see a foot or more before next weekend.

From Tuesday to Sunday, the weatherunderground.com model (Figure 2) gives Longmont about 2 1/4 inches of rain. The GFS (Figure 4) now gives us 2 inches (a big jump up again after yesterday's run, more like the output a day before). The GFS still doesn't give us snow, but the GEM still has about 1-2 inches over this time period (not shown). We'll keep tracking rain and snow totals as the weekend passes.

Figure 1: The forecast surface map for Saturday PM from NCEP.
Figure 2: the graphical forecast for the next 10 days for Longmont, CO from weatherunderground.com
Figure 3: The 500mb forecast upper air analysis for Tuesday PM. Pink dot is Longmont. Red lines are troughs, blue lines are ridges.
Figure 4: the forecast accumulated precipitation map from the GFS and weather5280.com for Colorado,over the next 10 days.


Current Weather

Mostly cloudy

Mostly cloudy

51°F

UV Index
5 Moderate
Pressure
29.49 Steady
Visibility
8 miles
Dewpoint
22 °F
Humidity
31%
Wind
W 11.9 mph
Gust
27.4 mph
Wind Chill
51 °F

Hourly Forecast

Today
11 AM
53°F
Showers
Today
12 PM
54°F
Cloudy
Today
1 PM
55°F
Cloudy
Today
2 PM
56°F
Cloudy
Today
3 PM
57°F
Cloudy
Today
4 PM
57°F
Cloudy
Today
5 PM
56°F
Cloudy
Today
6 PM
55°F
Cloudy
Today
7 PM
55°F
Cloudy
Today
8 PM
53°F
Mostly cloudy
Today
9 PM
51°F
Intermittent clouds
Today
10 PM
49°F
Intermittent clouds

7 Day Forecast

Showers

Monday

57 °F

Winds gusting past 40 mph; a brief shower or two this morning; otherwise, cloudy and cooler


Intermittent clouds

Monday Night

41 °F

Partly cloudy


Partly sunny w/ showers

Tuesday

58 °F

A couple of showers in the morning; otherwise, windy and cool with times of clouds and sun


Partly cloudy

Tuesday Night

33 °F

Partly cloudy


Intermittent clouds

Wednesday

60 °F

Times of clouds and sun


Mostly cloudy

Wednesday Night

38 °F

Increasing clouds


Partly sunny w/ showers

Thursday

56 °F

Times of clouds and sun with a couple of showers; cool


Cloudy

Thursday Night

37 °F

Cloudy


Mostly cloudy

Friday

62 °F

Mostly cloudy and warmer


Mostly clear

Friday Night

36 °F

Mainly clear


Sunrise and Sunset

Sunrise
5:53 AM
Sunset
8:01 PM

Based on AccuWeather data