Big Parts Of Colorado Just Had Their Biggest Snowstorm In Almost A Quarter Century; Up To 28 Inches Reported

Apparently, no al fresco dining in Estes Park, Colorado
after 28 inches of snow fell yesterday and today. 
Photo via Facebook from Matt Levitt Weather

A late season snowstorm has hit large swaths of Wyoming and Colorado which sounds depressing for so late in the season.  

Instead, people are rejoicing, because as the snow melts, it will put the first real dent in the areas's drought in months. 

New snow was reported as deep as 26.1 inches way up in the high country of Boulder County. The city of Boulder itself got about 10 inches. Up in Estes Park in Larimer County, between 22 and 28 inches fell. 

All of Colorado is experiencing a drought. The snow is great news.  What had been expected to be an extraordinarily early start to the fire season might be postponed by a few weeks.  At least in the Front Range.

There was quite a bit of water in that snow. As of late this morning, Fort Collins reported 5.3 inches of snow with total melted precipitation of 1.75 inches. 

Denver itself reportedly got around three or four inches downtown, and around 4.5 to 5 inches around the rest of the city.  This means this was the second or third largest snowstorm of the "winter" even though it hit well into spring.  It was the biggest May snowstorm in Denver since 2003. 

The Denver snow, melted down, amounted to at least 1.1 inches of what is basically rainfall. 

 Final tallies aren't in yet, which is why I"m saying "at least." 

As the snow falls. the warm ground is making it melt from the bottom, and the water soaks into the soil. Once the snow stops, rising temperatures will make the remaining snow melt, which will continue to add moisture to the soil. Gradually, instead of running off like downpours would. So this is perfect. 

Northwestern Colorado is experiencing the worst drought conditions in the state. Many areas in western Colorado unfortunately mostly missed out on the precipitation. Grand Junction, Colorado only had 0.05 inches of precipitation. Gunnison had a little under a quarter inch. 

Which means the drought and potential fire problems are not at all over in Colorado. And most of the rest of the West. 

This isn't to say the storm caused no problems. It did. 

Trees has mostly leafed out in the Denver and Boulder areas thanks to a record warm winter and toasty early spring. Peonies were even blooming. The weight of the snow on leafed out trees caused many branches to snap. Some of them onto power lines. 

About 47,000 Colorado homes and businesses were without power as of early this afternoon. 

Coloradans face some garden misery tonight. The snow is ending, but a snow covered ground means it'll get very cold very fast tonight. A freeze warning is in effect for the entire area that had snow. 

The snowstorm in Colorado will soon be forgotten. The snow will melt and quickly!

 Forecasters expect the highs in the low 60s around Denver tomorrow, near 70 Friday through Sunday and rising to the low and mid 80s by early next week.

And the snowstorm isn't traveling anywhere else to hassle any springtime enthusiasts. It's just kind of dwindling away to nothing and drying up.

Odd Winter Heat Raising Winter Fire Dangers In Texas, Colorado, Elsewhere

Flames in the Sabine National Forest in eastern Texas.
Numerous wildfires have broken out in eastern Texas
because of oddly dry, warm winter weather. 

Since it's been oddly warm and dry in the southern United States so far this winter, out of season wildfires are breaking out in places from Louisiana to Colorado. 

There's already been a few high fire danger days in Colorado in December. This afternoon, parts of Colorado, along with areas of New Mexico, are seeing a high fire danger due to strong winds, low humidity and drought. 

The fire danger is expected to spread and intensify tomorrow. The Texas panhandle is the highest risk area on Monday. Nearby sections of southeast Colorado, eastern New Mexico and Oklahoma are at risk, too. 

Eastern Texas and parts of Louisiana are also dealing with fires after a winter so far of light precipitation and record high temperatures. 

In just one Texas County, one fire department got 50 calls for outdoor blazes. More calls came in the next day. This despite the fact that many East Texas and western Louisiana counties and parishes are under burn bans. 

East Texas saw about 70 wildfires in the week leading up to New Years Eve.

Wildfires also swept through areas of Oklahoma in December. Fires got so dangerous in Kansas last month that the governor declared a state of emergency. 

It's been dry in Florida, as well. It's usually driest in Florida in April and May, and the state does occasionally get spring wildfires. But so far winter has been pretty arid in the sunshine state, raising fears of winter fires, and ever-more ferocious wildfires in the spring. 

Things could get worse across Texas in the coming days. Dry, warm, windy weather is due most of this week. Some rain might finally arrive in New Mexico and west Texas around Thursday. Record high temperatures and dry weather are expected until Friday, when a little rain might sneak into eastern Texas and Louisiana.  

But that rain doesn't look like much, and it'll stay dry and relatively warm for winter. Up in eastern Colorado and Wyoming, there might be a bit of precipitation late this week, but they'll also revert to dry, warm weather by the weekend. 

Ominously, snow cover in the Colorado Rockies is far below normal, which could set the stage for widespread wildfires this summer. 

CLIMATE CHANGE INFLUENCE 

Winter wildfires have really become more of a thing in recent years. Climate change has brought warmer winter weather. That has allowed some areas of the nation to dry out more. 

Last January brought us the catastrophic Los Angeles area wildfires that caused 30 direct deaths and possibly as many as 440 indirect fatalities. 

So far this winter, California is relatively safe from wildfires due to some storms that blew through in November and December. 

Another devastating winter wildfire hit the area around Boulder, Colorado toward the end of December, 2001, destroying about 1,000 homes. 

There's essentially no longer a "fire season." With the help of climate change, fire season in the United States starts on January 1 and goes through December 31. 

 

A Follow-Up To Donald Trump's War On Colorado: Now Denying Disaster Aid

The NCAR building in Boulder, Colorado. There's been
more fallout related to this, including Donald Trump
denying disaster relief from Colorado, and a 
looming brain drain from the United States. 

You might remember my post a few days ago, in which the Trump regime is breaking up an important and renowned climate and weather research center in Colorado. 

The Trumpsters said they plan to break up the National Center For Atmospheric Research or NCAR which conducts a wide array of meteorological and climate research. 

The Trump people said they want to break up the science center because they are guilty of "climate alarmism," whatever that is 

The timing of the announcement was interesting, to say the least. 

Former Mesa County, Colorado Clerk Tina Peters is still cooling her heels in state prison, having been found guilty in a state court for giving Trump supporters unauthorized access to a voting machine after the 2020 election. 

Trump earlier this month tried to pardon Peters, but he can't do that because she's convicted on state charges. Colorado refuses to touch Peters' nine-year prison sentence. So, it appears Trump might be exacting revenge on Colorado for this unforgivable slight - insert major eye roll here).

Well, there's even more signs of possible revenge by the Trump folks. President Trump has rejected requested disaster declarations for two wildfires and a serious flood earlier this year in Colorado. 

The denials got strong responses from Colorado's governor and the state's congressional delegation. 

"President Trump's decision to deny Colorado's request for critical federal assistance is unacceptable," said Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colorado. "Trump continues to use Coloradans for political games; it is malicious and obscene. A disaster is a disaster, regardless of what state in the country in took place."

Gov. Jared Polis said: "Coloradans impacted by the Elk and Lee fires and the flooding in southwestern Colorado deserve better than the political games President Trump is playing."

Colorado will appeal Trump's decision.  

Trump's denial of disaster assistance echoes what he's done in other blue states where he is especially unpopular. In October, Trump denied federal assistance for flooding in Illinois, Maryland and Vermont, all blue states. But Trump did approve disaster aid in red states like Alaska, Nebraska and North Dakota. 

In their joint statement today, Colorado's Polis, Bennet and Sen. John Hickenlooper hinted that they could play Trump's game, too. 

The three pointed to a recent study that showed that for every $1 Coloradans pay in federal taxes, the state only receives $0.90 in federal investments.  

Meanwhile, the potential breakup o NCAR could well contribute to a brain drain from the U.S. brought on by Trump's virulently anti-science agenda. 

Canadian climate scientists say dismantling NCAR would not only harm climate science worldwide, it would also cause a loss of expertise on emergency responses, and innovations in weather forecasting.

But as CTVnews.ca reports, Trump's actions could be an opportunity for Canada and Europe. American scientists have already left the U.S to work elsewhere. Canada has already announced funding to attract top talent to the nation, including U.S. researchers. 

"This is an opportunity for Canada to really establish itself as a leader," said Anna Soer, co-president of the Environmental Studies Association of Canada.  

Trump Administration Breaking Up Renowned Climate Center; Retribution Against Colorado Governor Suspected

The National Center for Atmospheric Research in
Boulder, Colorado. The Trump administration
wants to break it up saying the scientists there
are "climate alarmists" with no evidence to back
that up. It appears the announcement might
be related to Colorado refusing to release
from jail a 2020 election conspiracy theorist.

One of the world's leading climate research centers, in Boulder, Colorado, is targeted for closing because Donald Trump has his head in the sand. 

And also probably because he's still butthurt that Colorado won't release a 2020 election conspiracy theorist from jail.

At issue is the National Center For Atmospheric Research, or NCAR. It was founded in 1960 and has resources like supercomputers, data sets and high-tech research planes that conduct meteorological and climate research. It's also an educational center for future scientists. 

As you'd expect, scientists are almost uniformly outraged by the plan to dismantle NCAR. 

Katharine Hayhoe, a Texas Tech University professor and chief scientist at the Nature Conservancy, called the center "quite literally our global mothership," and said "Dismantling NCAR is like taking a sledgehammer to the keystone holding up our scientific understanding of the planet."

Hayhoe also said on her post on the social media platform X: 

"(NCAR) supports the scientists who fly into hurricanes, the meteorologists who developed new radar technology, the physicists who envision and code new weather models and yes, the largest community climate model in the world" 

Casper Amman, a former research scientist at NCAR, told the Washington Post the center plays a unique role by bringing together soiled specialists to collaborate on some of the biggest climate and weather questions of our time. 

"Without NCAR, a lot could not happen....A lot of research at U.S. Universities would immediately get hampered, industry would lose access to reliable base data."

Weather and climate services around the world use NCAR modeling and forecasting tools. It also supplies real time data to people dealing with events like big wildfires and floods. 

Of course, the Trump camp has a completely different view about their plans to dismantle NCAR.

 Here's a Trump minion on X:

"The National Science Foundation will be breaking up the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in Boulder, Colorado......This facility is one of the largest sources of climate alarmism in the country."

One of Trump's favorite whines is climate change. Every chance he gets, he says climate change is a hoax and a con job, his words. He apparently thinks that he's smarter than the vast majority of scientists who tell us climate change is real. Those scientists are growing increasingly alarmed about that warming. 

 USA Today, which first reported this development, reported:

"The administration plans to identify and eliminate what it calls 'green new scam research activities' during an upcoming review of the center, according to the White House while 'vital functions' such as weather modeling and supercomputing will be moved to another entity or location. 

Efforts to dissolve the National Center for Atmospheric Research will begin immediately, the official said, with the plan being to fully close the center's Mesa Laboratory in Boulder."

NCAR's staff consists of 830 employees who are part of the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research, a nonprofit consortium of more than 130 colleges and universities. Those universities focus on earth system sciences. We don't yet know how many jobs or programs this dismantling would affect.

THE REAL REASON

There's almost certainly more to all this than just Trump's aversion to any true information about climate change. Trump's focus seems to be suddenly all about Colorado 

 As USA Today reports:

"The move to break up the National Center for Atmospheric Research comes after the Trump administration earlier in the day announced the cancellation of $109 million environmentally focused transportation grants in Colorado that sought to boost electric vehicles, rail improvement and research into hydrogen and natural gas-powered trains."

Amid these announcements, and on the same day the NCAR breakup was announced, Trump called Polis "weak and pathetic" and "incompetent" because he refused to release former Colorado County Clerk Tina Peters from prison.

And there it is: Revenge. 

Peters was once the top election official in Mesa County. She's part of the election 2020 conspiracy gang, convinced the election that year was "stolen" by the Joe Biden campaign. There's no evidence that ever happened. 

Eventually, in 2024,  a Colorado jury convicted Peters of giving Trump supporters unauthorized access to a voting machine after the 2020 election. She's serving a nine-year sentence on those state charges. 

Recently, Trump said he is pardoning Peters. There's one teeny, tiny problem with that. The president can only pardon people who were convicted on federal charges and are in federal prisons.

Peters was convicted on charges brought by the State of Colorado and is in a state prison. 

"Tina Peters was convicted guy a jury of her peers, prosecuted by a Republican District Attorney and found guilty of violating Colorado state laws, including criminal impersonation. No President has jurisdiction over state law more the power to parse a person for state convictions," said Colorado Gov. Jared Polis. 

How dare Polis stand up to Glorious Leader Trump!  So the Trump people brought out their usual mob boss schtick. "Nice state ya got there. Would be a shame to see anything happen to it."

Here's the quote to prove it:

"'Maybe if Colorado had a governor who actually wanted to work with President Trump his constituent would be better served,' a senior White House official told NOTUS in an email on Wednesday."

NOTUS.org is a nonprofit, nonpartisan digital news outlet.

The Washington Post said an unnamed White House official declined to say how Polis is not cooperating with the administration, but denied the move was in response to Polis and his team not releasing Peters from prison.

Sure, Jan. 

Colorado is already fighting back 

According to Politico,  the U.S. Senate adjourned for the holidays this past week without passing a government funding package that would prevent a partial government shutdown starting January 30. 

One big part of the holdup are Democratic Colorado Senators Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper, who said they would hold up the spending package because of the plan to dismantle NCAR.  

Trump appears to be in a weaker position politically than he was earlier this year. Stay tuned at this bat channel to see whether the plan to end NCAR really happens.

We should all hope not. 

Huge Western Winds Continue; Big Colorado Fire Threat Today

Rangeland fires in Colorado Wednesday amid high
winds. Today, there's a particularly dangerous
fire risk along parts of Colorado's Front Range
as winds could reach 100 mph. 

 More rounds of high winds are hitting the West today after some incredible gusts roared through an enormous part of the western United States. 

In most places, today's gush of wind in the western United States isn't quite as bad as Wednesday's mess. But it will cause added damage in a wide area that has already suffered huge amounts of tree loss, power outages and structural damage.

The scariest place today will be along and just east of the Front Range in Colorado, where an incredible dangerous potential fire situation is unfolding. More on that in a bit. 

Some of the top wind gusts in mountainous areas included 144 mph at Mount Coffin, Wyoming, 142 mph at Goldwater Ridge Washington; 127 mph at Whitewood, South Dakota and 123 mph in Red Canyon.

Down where people live, the gusts were still incredible. Reports include 102 mph in Golden, Colorado, 101 mph in Rapid City, South Dakota, 99 mph in Missoula, Montana and 85 mph in Casper, Wyoming. 

Miraculously, I'm only aware of one death so far. It was a 55 year old man in Idaho who died when a tree crashed through the roof of his house and landed on the bed where he was sleeping. 

COLORADO DANGER

In Colorado, about 25,000 households were still without power Thursday afternoon after Wednesday's storm. That one brought local wind gusts of up to 100 mph. 

On Wednesday, areas around Boulder, Colorado Springs and places like that were worried about wind-driven wildfires. Thankfully, no heavily populated areas had wildfires. But three of them broke out in rural Yuma County. 

The largest of them raced through 12,000 acres and destroyed four structures, all either sheds or abandoned houses. The fire was 90 percent contained as of Thursday afternoon, Colorado Public Radio reported.

Now, a new storm looms today with a new round of winds of up to 100 mph in the immediate foothills of the Front Range again.  The hurricane force gusts are not expected to cover as large an area as Wednesday's storm. 

But, it's even drier than it was Wednesday, and the winds will be widespread. A large area covering an area from Nebraska down through the western half of Texas is at risk for large, wind driven wildfires today. 

A smaller area right along the Front Range from about Boulder and Fort Collins Colorado up through Cheyenne, Wyoming is really scaring people today. 

The strongest winds and lowest humidity in those cities will hit this afternoon through early this evening. A rare "particularly dangerous situation" red flag warning is in effect for areas immediately adjacent to the foothills in and near Boulder, west of Fort Collins and near Cheyenne. 

It's rare to see that kind of wording in a fire risk advisory. It means any fire that can get going could race erratically through trees, rangeland and neighborhoods. You'd expect that if winds gust to as high as 100 mph, as predicted. There's a risk of another firestorm like the one in December 2021 that destroyed around 1,000 homes around Boulder. 

A grass fire in Cheyenne Wednesday forced the evacuation of a neighborhood. The fire was contained, and people are back home, but today's weather forecast is surely freaking people out around there. 

WIND ELSEWHERE

People are still cleaning up from the gales from Washington to South Dakota.

Rapid City, 101 mph gusts were reported, not far from downtown. At the official weather station at the regional airport, the wind gusted to 94 mph, the highest wind gust on record, beating out an 89 mph gusts during a July, 2002 severe thunderstorm. 

A wildfire broke amid strong winds in Rapid City, South Dakota. It burned along Skyline Drive, a posh section of the city. It looks like firefighters contained the fire before it could burn any houses. 

However, around Rapid City, a radio tower collapsed in the winds, buildings lost their roofs and a lot of trees toppled. 

Throughout the huge state of Montana, crews were clearing fallen trees. Big Sky Country often gets big wind, but it's usually not as widespread for as persistent as this. At one point Wednesday, the entire state was under a high wind warning. 

Today, it's only the western half of Montana under a high wind warning, but winds could still reach 80 mph in some mountainous terrain. 

As new storms come off the Pacific, more high wind warnings are in effect for parts of Oregon.  The weather pattern will continue to feature a fast, west to east blast across the U.S. so more windy weather will keep cropping up here and there coast to coast through the Christmas holiday.  

Huge Windstorm Causing Havoc Through Most Of Western U.S.

Wind damage on the campus of the University of
Idaho in Moscow, Idaho. Strong, damaging winds
are hitting a remarkably huge area of the western
and central U.S. 

A widespread windstorm is slamming much of the western United States today as powerful storms and an even more powerful jet stream are roiling the atmosphere. 

Alerts for strong winds extend 1,400 miles from the West Coast in Washington and Oregon to Iowa. This is the second widespread area of strong, destructive winds in a week, and this second one is the worse of the two. 

Washington State has been enduring atmospheric river storms for over a week now. The state suffered its first fatality when a man accidentally drove his truck into a ditch while driving into a flooded road that had been closed. 

Overnight, an immense surge of wind blustered into Washington and Oregon. A gust of 138 mph was measured on Mount Hood in Oregon this morning. In high elevation Washington, gusts reached 112 at Alpental, 99 mph in White Pass and 82 mph at Snoqualmie Pass. 

Where torrential rains fell in the past week in the Olympic and Cascade mountains, blizzard warnings were up today.

As of this morning, the winds had cut power to 500,000 in Washington and Oregon. Across the border in British Columbia, Canada, about 90,000 people had their electricity cut by the gales. 

The winds raced into eastern Washington and Idaho this morning. Lewiston, Idaho gusted to 84 mph and Moscow, Idaho reported 81 mph. Spokane measured a gust to 75 mph. Coeur d'Alene, in northern Idaho, had severe thunderstorms and gusts this morning to 66 mph. 

Another seriously out of season severe thunderstorm packing winds of up to 70 mph was menacing Twin Falls in southern Idaho this morning. Two children were reportedly critically injured in Twin Falls when a tree fell on them as they were waiting for a school bus. 

Remarkably, virtually all of the vast states of Montana and Wyoming are under high wind warnings today, as are most of the Dakotas and Nebraska.  Near the Rocky Mountains in Montana, winds could reach 100 mph.  

It's been oddly warm in western Montana, with heavy rains. The winds will topple more trees than usual for a strong winter storm since the ground is so wet and not frozen like it usually is this time of year. 

The winds in Montana and Wyoming are expected to be strong enough to cut power, sometimes for days, create blinding dust storms and topple tractor trailers. The National Weather Service and officials in both states are discouraging truck traffic because of the impending storm. 

The National Weather Service is comparing the looming Montana storm to the high winds of January, 2021. That storm brought wind gusts of 75 to 80 mph to cities like Great Falls, Helena and Havre. The 2021 storm. also set off some destructive rangeland fires in Montana. The same is possible in central and eastern Montana today, as those areas have not gotten nearly as much snow and rain as areas west of the Continental Divide. 

Similar fears have erupted in Colorado, where intense winds are in the forecast today along the Front Range and the Plains to the east.  The fire risk today actually extends from southeast Wyoming, through central and eastern Colorado down into New Mexico. 

 Memories of the December, 2021 firestorm around Boulder, Colorado are still fresh. Violent downslope winds fanned a wildfire that raced through Boulder-area subdivisions

That fire was the worst and most costly in Colorado history, destroying more than 1,000 homes. The fear is, it could happen again in the upcoming windstorm. 

Winds will be ferocious this time but not as bad as in 2021. Top winds then reached 100 mph. This time, they'll be closer to 80 mph. But that's more than enough for dangerous wildfires. Especially since it has been unusually dry and warm lately.  

The utility Xcel sent a notice to customers Tuesday telling to expect possible power outages.  The utility might shut off power in susceptible areas to avoid the risk of wildfires.  That way, if power lines snap in the wind, they won't start fires because the juice will be off.  

As of early this afternoon, wind worries were spreading. A high wind warning is up for parts of western New York tomorrow. Most of the rest of New York, along with parts of Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont are under wind advisories. 

The stormy regime out west shows no signs of ending. More storms will crash into Washington, Oregon and California several times before New Years Day. 

 

 

Oddly Early Winter Storm Snarls California, And Additional Rough, Wet Weather Hits Other Parts Of U.S. Southwest

Workers try to clear storm drains in San Francisco
Monday as cars splash through the deep puddles.
An oddly early, strong storm is hitting
Californian. Photo from the San Fransisco 
Chronicle, via Facebook.

 California is being hit today by the kind of storm they usually have to wait until January or February to see. 

The storm features locally heavy rains, the threat of debris flows and mudslides, heavy snow in the mountains and even a low but still real chance of a brief tornado in the Los Angeles basin. 

This type of storm hits California fairly regularly in the dead of winter, but they almost never happen this early in the season. 

The biggest threat from this storm is for people who live near and below the sites of those giant, deadly wildfires that hit the L.A. area last January. 

The City of Los Angeles issued evacuation warnings for homes near the fire burn areas in Pacific Palisades and Malibu, KTLA tells us. 

People who live near the site of a big January fire in and around Altadena were also told to be on the alert to possible evacuations. Same was true near other burn scars in Orange County. 

Valleys in southern California can expect an inch of rain, give or take, which is wildly big for October. The mountains and foothills can expect two to four inches. 

Normal rainfall for the entire month of October in Los Angeles is about a half inch. 

The biggest problem is that the rain in southern California should come in a relatively brief time, with most of it falling within four to six hours. Such downpours can really move rocks and dirt in areas where vegetation was destroyed by wildfires. 

As of 5:30 a.m local time, a gusty thunderstorm with downpours and gusts to 55 mph was blustering through the Los Angeles basin. Very odd for what is normally a dry time of year. 

Further north, the first snows of the season have started falling in the notoriously snowy Sierra Nevada mountains. 

By midwinter standards, this storm isn't huge. But for October, it's impressive. Snow levels were forecast to fall to 5,000 feet above sea level today. Interstate 80 through Donner Pass should have slushy snow and traffic delays along it today. Higher up, some ski resorts, though not open yet, can expect maybe a foot of snow. So I imagine some renegade skiers and riders will be up there doing their thing.

In the San Francisco Bay Area, torrential rains flooded roads and drowned cars in many areas. Several days, mostly Ubers and Lyfts leaving the airport, got trapped in flash flooding Monday night, ABC7 News in San Francisco reported. 

San Francisco on average receives 0.79 inches of rain during the entire month of October. More than that fell in just one day Monday, as the city received 0.87 inches, at least as measured at the airport. 

The oddly early preview of the California rainy season might or might not be good news for the fall and early winter wildfire season.

Strong, dry Santa Ana winds propel the ferocious wildfires in southern California. The worst of them hit from about now through mid December. (Last year, the lack of rain and the Santa Anas kept going well into January, hence the deadly mega fires in the L.A area).

Initially, everything will be damp, so the wildfire risk will be low. But the rain will inspire new plant growth - grass, weeds, that kind of thing. 

By this time of year, northern California is close enough to the normal storm track so that wildfire season is probably over up there. 

But in southern California, that new growth could dry out and become tinder for fires later this fall and early winter.  Southern California is not out of the woods for wildfires just yet. 

That's true even though the weird October rains in California might not be over. Another storm, smaller and weaker than the one they're getting now, could come through next Monday with a little more rain. After that, it seems California will revert back to its normal dry, sunny late October weather.

SOUTHWEST STORMS 

An intense microburst caused a lot of damage in
Tempe, Arizona Monday. It was part of a stormy
pattern in the normally dry southwest U.s. 

It's been a strangely stormy autumn in the Southwest this year, thanks in part to the remnants of Hurricane Priscilla, which originated off the west coast of Mexico. The storm remnants became Priscilla, the (very wet) queen of the desert.   

In Tempe, Arizona, an intense thunderstorm microburst Monday packing winds of at least 70 mph tore roofs off apartment buildings, mobile homes and businesses, displacing at least 130 people. Parts of warehouses collapsed, semi-trucks overturned, and power lines collapsed in the storm. Luckily, there were no serious injuries. 

Another microburst Sunday in Tucson, Arizona damaged several properties, blew over trees and saguaro cactus and caused flooding. The city received 1.2 inches of rain, the biggest storm in almost a year. 

On Sunday, flash floods damaged several homes in Mesa, Arizona and closed roads. 

The bad weather extended into New Mexico and Colorado, causing damaging flash floods in both states. 

In normally arid southwest Colorado, flash floods wrecked about 100 homes, prompted nearly a dozen high water rescues and blocked roads. As much as five inches of rain fell in that part of Colorado. Flooding also hit around Salt Lake City, Utah.   

It's Winter Somewhere! Surprisingly Strong Snowstorm/Blizzard Strikes New Mexico/Colorado

Aftermath of the big snow over the past
few days in North Colorado Springs,
Colorado. Photo by Matthew Soifer
via Facebook.

 The nation's first big disruptive snowstorm of the winter season is hitting New Mexico and Colorado, and we are starting the winter with a doozy. 

Widespread travel disruptions hit areas Thursday  from Albuquerque to Denver and beyond.  Snow totals were impressive to say the least.

Fort Garland, Colorado reported 53 inches Trinidad, Colorado came in with 44 inches. Beulah, Colorado and Angel Fire, New Mexico had 40 inches. 

The interesting thing is some of the biggest snow totals were out in the High Plains east and south of Colorado Springs and Denver, and not necessarily so much in the mountains. 

Colorado Springs had at least 20 inches.

Denver's 20 inches of snow was their 11th biggest snowstorm on record and third biggest in November. 

Luckily, the snow totals in the cities situated in some of relatively lower elevations sound worse than they are. The snowfall was spread over several days  

The still-warm ground melted some of the snow from below. The snow in Denver fell over the course of five days and the snow depth peaked at 13 inches. The multi-day duration was mostly because this was really two storms in one. 

The snow depth in Colorado Springs never really got deeper than eight inches. 

However the snow did manage to pile up on elevated surfaces like roofs, and trees and sheds, causing some damage. 

The drawback to having the snow fall over several days is that flight delays and cancellations really ramped up at Denver Airport. It has since stopped snowing, so the airports in the region are clearing the backlog of flights. 

  New Mexico's governor declared a state of emergency Thursday for much of the northern part of the state as the early season wet snowstorm cut power from Albuquerque to Santa Fe, cutting power to thousands of people.

The leaves were still on the trees in many areas, which made the situation much worse. The snow clung to the leaves, pulling down trees and branches that might otherwise have withstood the snow had the trees been winter bare. 

At least 100 vehicles were reported stranded on highways in northeastern New Mexico, where a blizzard warning was in effect until 5 p.m. Friday.  

The snowstorm followed what had been up to now an unusually warm autumn in Colorado, which means that, like in New Mexico, some of the leaves are still on the trees. Especially in urban and suburban areas of Denver and other areas outside the mountains.

That contributed to a bunch of power outages that are now being repaired. Electricity appeared to be almost completely restored in Colorado  and in New Mexico as of Sunday morning.  

The storm has departed Colorado. The forecast for cities like Denver and Colorado is for sunshine the entire week with highs in the 50s to near 60, so the snow should melt pretty fast. 

As a parting shot, the storm's cold front eventually grabbed some moisture from dying former Hurricane Rafael in the Gulf of Mexico. That ended up dumping torrential rains and creating lots of flash flooding in Louisiana this weekend. 

The storm system that caused the Colorado snow and contributed to the Louisiana flood is the same one that is coming through the Northeast with some needed rain on Monday. 

However, the storm is now much, much weaker than it was and still getting weaker. So the Northeast won't get all that much rain out of this system.

Colorado Farmers Create Fake Drought To Rake In Federal Money. Ends VERY Badly For Them

Two Colorado farmers tampered with a 
federal weather station like this one,
damaging rain gauges to make it look
like less rain fell than actually did.
The scheme was organized so they
could receive federal drought payoffs.

 Two Colorado farmers learned an extremely expensive lesson when they faked a drought by tampering with federal rain gauges, the Washington Post reports. 

Prosecutors said Patrick Esch and Edward Dean Jagers II cut wires, poured silicone and loosened bolts in an effort to keep those rain gauges empty so they could make false crop insurance claims for "drought."  

Federal officials were not amused, according to WaPo:

"Under the criminal pleas, Esch was ordered to pay $2,084,441 in restitution and Jagers was ordered to pay $1,036,625. Those amounts have been paid, Colorado federal district attorney's office spokeswoman Melissa Brandon told the Washington Post on Monday. 

But wait! There's more!

"The civil settlement from a whistleblower involved in the case requires Esch to pay an addition $3 million - $676,871.74 of which is restitution, per court records - plus 3 percent interest over the next 12 months, Brandon said. Jagers has paid his required additional $500,000."

Esch, 72, also spend two months in prison. Jagers, 63, spent six months in the slammer. 

Some of the details get juicy, according to CBS Colorado.

Apparently, Jaber and Esch had two other people involved in this fake drought conspiracy. This takes on the air of a bad TV crime drama. Says CBS Colorado:

".....one of the co-conspirators turned on the group and extorted Esch in particular. The unidentified male threatened to expose the entire enterprise to authorities in exchange for Esch paying the man's bond for release from jail and giving several five-figure payments to he man's girlfriend.

Esch, according to his plea agreement, even shrugged off the man's admitted theft of an all-terrain vehicle from Esch in exchange for the man's silence. 

In August of 2023, a month before Jager and Esch reached their plea agreements with prosecutors, this unidentified male co-conspirator escaped from prison. This triggered a nationwide manhunt and caused Esch and his family 'to go into hiding,' as stated in a court document Two weeks after the escape the co-conspirator was found dead."

Inquiring minds want to know what the co-conspirator died of. 

And I bet Esch in particular really, really regrets his fun and games with rain gauges, given how screwed up his life is now. 

 

Canceled Biden Trip Would Have Been An Unintentional Climate Irony Moment

A huge coal train derailment in Pueblo, Colorado
on Sunday. It has blocked Interstate 25 since, snarling
traffic in the region. Photo is from Pueblo
County Sheriff's Office. 

President Joe Biden was supposed to travel to Pueblo, Colorado on Monday to talk about his clean energy initiative. 

He canceled at the last minute. He (quite reasonably, in my opinion) decided to instead hold meetings with his national security team regarding Israel's deadly war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip. 

The trip to Colorado would have been a bit of an ironic moment. Any trip to a U.S. city by the President would screw up local traffic, due to the security such a visit would entail.   

The traffic in Pueblo would be extra messed up by a Biden visit for this reason: A coal train Sunday derailed on a bridge above busy Interstate 25. The bridge collapsed, sadly killing a passing truck driver.  Coal spilled everywhere, closing the Interstate in both directions and disrupting traffic throughout the city. 

As of last night, Interstate 25 was still closed and was expected to remain that way at least until this afternoon (October 18) as tons of coal and wreckage are cleaned up. 

The Associated Press reports:

"A nine-mile stretch of I-25 - used by 39,000 to 44,000 vehicles daily - was shut down. Traffic was being detoured around the derailment site and through the town of Penrose, almost 30 miles west of Pueblo."

So yeah, pretty messy. Imagine mixing Biden's motorcade and security into that mess. 

 Coal isn't exactly clean energy.  It's one of the main, dirtiest culprit in causing climate change. Plus, the point of Biden's visit was to promote a clean energy industry aimed at muting the dangerous effects of climate change. 

It wasn't the entire coal industry's fault the derailment happened. Investigators think a broken rail was behind the disaster. 

But had Biden come to Pueblo to chat up his clean energy initiatives, the coal train disaster would have been pretty ironic.  I haven't heard of clean energy causing big problems like the train wreck, but maybe you can guide me toward an example.  

I get it that the situation in Gaza that Biden is dealing with is zillions of times worse and more complicated than the train derailment. But I can't resist highlighting the irony of the derailment and Biden's intentions for going to Pueblo.

Another Round Of Plains/Rockies Wildfires, Blizzards, Storms

Huge area of the Southwest, in red and especially
pink are at high risk of uncontrollable wildfires todaiy.

While we in Vermont haven't exactly had the nicest spring weather lately, at least it hasn't been as dangerous as it's been in much of the Plains and parts of the Rockies. 

Each round of bad weather seems to get worse and worse, and we have another nasty situation out there today. 

The biggest threat is wildfires. This time, the prime zone for those fires are a little further west that previous iterations.  When NOAA's Storm Prediction Center puts out an "extremely critical fire" alert you know it's serious.

Today's "extremely critical" zone is also much bigger than you typically see, encompassing large chunks of New Mexico and eastern Colorado.

This danger zone includes Denver and Boulder.  People there are probably especially nervous, given how they're just beginning to recover from the fire storm that roared through Boulder suburbs in late December.

That wildfire was the worst in Colorado history, having destroyed around 600 homes. 

Already, large wildfires are burning near Flagstaff and Prescott, Arizona, forcing hundreds of people to evacuate. Other large fires are currently burning in New Mexico.

April is not normally a season for big fires, especially in Colorado. The Front Range area often has snow or cold rains this time of year as storms often develop there and head east, causing severe weather in the Midwest. 

Those storms are forming this year, but going further north than usual, leaving the southern Plains and Colorado and New Mexico parched.

Today, yet another storm is forming, again somewhat north of where they usually go. Temperatures in the fire zone are expected to get into the 80s and 90s, relative humidity will crash to the single digits, winds will gust past 60 mph over ground and vegetation that is at record levels of dryness.'

You see the problem.

Additionally, the storm is setting up a dry line in the central and southern Plains.  As we noted recently, a dry line is pretty common in the spring. It's a sharp north/south boundary between very humid air to the east and hot, very dry air to the west.

Supercell thunderstorms and tornadoes often form along this dry line.  Today, that dry line will start out near the Colorado/Kansas border and push east. What are known as low precipitation, or LP supercells are expected to form.

LP supercells are incredibly dramatic looking, spinning thunderstorms that form striking clouds and sometimes tornadoes. These clouds are so visible because of the lack of rain with them. But LP supercells often spit out quite a few lightning bolts. With the lack of rain and the lightning hitting parched areas, the potential for fire starts is pretty damn big.

DAKOTA BLIZZARD AGAIN

North Dakota is also having an incredibly rough spring. One of the worst blizzards in the state's history struck on April 12-14, and another winter storm hit around April 17. Within that stretch, temperatures his record lows of between zero and 5 above.  

The Dickinson, North Dakota Police Department digging
out from an epic blizzard earlier this month. Another
blizzard is forecast to hit parts of that state this weekend.

Now, another blizzard is set to hit the western part of North Dakota over the weekend with another eight to 15 inches of windblown snow.  The eastern half of the state can expect some heavy rain before precipitation changes to snow. That could cause flooding as runoff from rain and melting snow overwhelms ditches. 

The Red River along the North Dakota/Minnesota border is swelling fast and at least moderate flooding is expected. This will have to be watched carefully.  April, 1997 had similar weather to this year. The Red River in 1997 rose to record levels devastating the city of Grand Forks, North Dakota.

SEVERE WEATHER

Those LP supercells I talked about earlier in this post are expected to become better organized as they move east. Possible tornadoes, destructive straight-line winds and ginormous hail are possible in a stripe from central South Dakota to the Texas panhandle today

Tomorrow, the severe threat moves a little east, involving a stripe that envelops most of Minnesota and extends all the way down to central Texas.

Overall, the severe weather threat today and tomorrow is pretty typical for this time of year. North Dakota often gets blizzards in the spring but this year is quire unusually bad.   The level of fire danger in the southwest is really off the charts for this time of year. 

VERMONT IMPACTS

As is usually the case, we in the Green Mountain State are bystanders to all of this. The weekend will be dry and cool, especially tonight and tomorrow. Everyone will have a frost and freeze tonight, and it'll only get up into the low 50s Saturday afternoon.

Sunday will be a bit warmer. We're still expecting a quick squirt of rather warm air Monday before things turn gloomy again later Monday through at least the middle of next week. 

Updates From Colorado Fire: People Missing, Count of Homes Burned Rises

A person combs through the wreckage of a fire-destroyed
home in Colorado after last week's fires. At least two
people remain missing and 991 buildings were destroyed. 

In the initial aftermath of that big, horrific wildfire in Colorado last week, I was hoping for a miracle.  Preliminary reports seemed to indicate nobody died in the fire.  

Alas, that was not to be. At least two people are missing and are presumed to have died in the fire.  

Officials say 991 buildings were destroyed and 127 damaged. The vast majority of these structures were homes. News9 reports that's not the final total but will be close to it.

Speculation initially indicated downed power lines caused the fire.  But later, utility workers could not find any downed wires near where the fire started.  People driving by the area when the fire was starting reported seeing a shed on fire amid strong winds. 

The shed is on land owned by Twelve Tribes, a fundamentalist religious sect.  Authorities executed a search warrant on the property, but it's unclear whether any criminal charges are coming, or even if the devastating fire started at the shed or spread to it from a nearby area, the Daily Beast and New York Times reported. 

If human negligence was involved, then criminal charges could result, News9 reported.

As in most other big disasters, there's been an outpouring of help headed to Boulder County, Colorado. That's from next door neighbors whose homes managed to survive, to people across the U.S.  Obviously, the Biden administration is providing federal aid, too. 

Some of the efforts are sad, but creative and moving. 

A local woman's clothing boutique in the area called Due South was undamaged in the fire.  So the owner, who lost her own home to fire 28 years to the day of this wildfire, gave 41 women who lost everything a $500 free shopping spree in the store. 

Other volunteers have build sifters, boxes with wire screens on the bottom, so that fire victims can go through the ashes of their homes to find belongings like rings, other jewelry coins and small metal heirlooms. 

One of the volunteers, Erin Moe, said her group made 90 sifters for the people who lost their homes. 

If you want to help Colorado fire victims, click on this link from News9 to know which is the best way to handle this. 

Video: An insider look taken by a firefighter as other firefighters struggle to deal with dozens of burning houses amid extreme winds and a lack of water to fight the flames.  Click on this hyperlink or view video below by clicking on arrow, then YouTube logo. 

Colorado Fire Ends The Year With Yet Another Climate Calamity

Destructive wildfires loom over Christmas decorations
Thursday in Colorado.

 Fires were calming down near Boulder, Colorado this morning as winds slackened, temperatures plunged and snow got ready to move in, but the damage is done.  

At least 580 homes, plus other buildings burned in yesterday's fast moving wildfire near Boulder, mostly in the relatively affluent and densely populated towns of Louisville and Superior.

 There was no way to stop the flames. Winds gusted as high as 110 mph.  The flames advanced the length of a football field in a few seconds.

Like many of this year's disasters, this one is especially notable for its speed and surprise.  Forecasters had warned the public ahead of time about strong winds and dry conditions, but this intense fire appeared to take everyone by surprise.

I worry not everybody was able to get out in time, and they might find bodies in the rubble today. I hope not.

Upwards of 30,000 people had to be evacuated ahead of the fires. Local news outlets are calling this fire the most destructive in Colorado history. 

Once again, like we've seen so often in the past year, scenes out of Colorado were like a wild disaster movie, but were all too real.

One clip showed a Costco being evacuated, as shoppers hastily left the building into a parking lot filled with fast moving, blinding smoke, sirens and chaos. An Associated Press video showed spot fires rapidly starting in ornamental bushes and plastic trash cans in one neighborhood amid the intense winds and smoke. Photos bizarrely showed festive Christmas decorations in the foreground, with flames ripping through homes behind them. 

Strong winds coming off the Front Range of the Rockies are not that odd, though Thursday's winds were more intense than usual. What was odd was the drought conditions, and the lack of snow so far this year.

Usually when these powerful winds develop near Boulder or Denver this time of year, there's snow on the ground, or the snow just melted in the warm winds. That leaves relatively wet ground and little chance of fires gaining too much ground.  

Passengers on flights leaving Denver airport
saw this apocalyptic scene below them.

Climate change has shifting the equation, and it seems these out of season fires are here to stay as a result. Note that the extreme fire that destroyed Paradise, California started on November 8, 2018, at a time when the rainy season should have been beginning in northern California.

The destructive fire around Gatlinburg, Tennessee on November 28, 2016 was also incredibly late in the season for the region.  That fire, like the one in Boulder, burned in intense winds just ahead of a cold front. 

More weather havoc appears to be on the way today elsewhere in the nation.  In a band through and south of the Ohio Valley, considerable flooding is on tap today and tomorrow.  

Strangely humid, warm air for this time of year will interact with a cold front, causing torrential rainfall. The flood danger zone includes areas most affected by late season tornadoes on December 10.

More tornadoes also seem likely today and tonight in Alabama, Mississippi and Georgia in the exceptionally summer-like air.

Though tornado outbreaks do occur in the South this time of year, the frequency and intensity of tornadoes in the United States in December has been off the charts.  Climate change seems to have had a hand in that, too.  The Gulf of Mexico is at record warm levels, and that's feeding the storms and enabling them to spin off more tornadoes and torrential rains.

Fire videos:

Click on on the hyperlinks if you don't seem them on the page:

The Denver Channel gives a horrifying overview:

In what looks like a scene from a disaster movie, a Costco is being hastily evacuated as the fire closes in: 

Here's the awful view a passenger on a United flight passing over the fire scene saw:

BREAKING: Colorado Wildfire Burns At Least 500 Homes

Just a couple of the hundreds of homes going up in flames
near Boulder, Colorado today 

 A terrible winter wildfire was sweeping through neighborhoods in and near Boulder Colorado, prompting mass evacuations and burning more than 500 homes - so far.  

The area involved is in drought and has had almost no snow so far this winter.  Downslope winds of 70 to 90 mph are fanning the flames, leading to the disaster. 

 There's no word on any fatalities yet, but I worry some are inevitable, given how quickly flames spread in the intense winds. 

Wildfires sometimes happen during the winter in the Plains east of the Colorado Rockies even in winter. But nothing on this scale. This might be the worst wildfire in Colorado history.

As I write this Thursday evening, the fires continued to chew through densely populated neighborhoods.

It is supposed to snow in Boulder tomorrow, finally, but that will be too little, too late.  I'm going to pin the blame on this partly on climate change.  The high winds this time of year are common in the Boulder area. But the snow-free conditions and drought are ot. 

I"ll have more on this in Friday's post. 

 

Here's A REAL Whirlwind Romance!

As a rain-wrapped tornado spun behind them storm chaser
Tom Bedard proposed to fellow storm chaser Raya Maday.
Spoiler: She said yes.

 Inside Edition just put out a story this week about two meteorologists in love. 

Tom Bedard and Raya Maday, who work for Accuweather, went storm chasing recently. They thought it would be cool if they saw a tornado for the first time while together so both could watch.  

How romantic!  

So off they went to the middle of nowhere in southeastern Colorado, where forecasts indicated they could be a tornado that day. 

Off in the distance a tornado indeed touched down. Not the most photogenic one, but good enough! 

But Bedard had yet another surprise.While Maday oohed and awed over the tornado, Bedard bent down on one knee and the rest is history.

This isn't the first time romance got wrapped up in a tornado, so to speak. There was that famous wedding a few years back in which a Kansas couple posed for wedding photos as a tornado loomed in the background. 

Watch the fun Inside Edition video of the Bedard/Maday proposal below As always, click on the YouTube video so he can see it in more full size:  

Tornadoes Get The Attention But Hail Storms (Sometimes) Cause More Of The Damage

Giant pre-dawn hail in Orange Beach, 
Alabama this morning.

 As is common in the spring, there was another outbreak of severe weather in the South Friday. 

Tornadoes get the attention in severe weather, and so far there have been no confirmed reports of anything like that.  Though, with further investigation, meteorologists might discover a few did indeed touch down. The lack of tornadoes, though, is probably why you haven't heard about this rough weather in the South. 

This time, it was hail that predominated.  There were a whopping 255 reports of large hail, from Friday afternoon through early this morning, with more than a dozen reports of hail stones at least as big as tennis balls. 

There's usually at least a couple big outbreaks of hail every spring like that. As noted, they don't get the attention, but hail outbreaks often turn out to be some of the most damaging storm events of any given year. 

A June, 2018 hail storm in Colorado caused about $2.3 billion in damage. Large hail stones around Phoenix, Arizona in October, 2010 caused about $4.5 billion in damage.  A hail storm propelled by winds as high as 80 mph caused $300 million in damage in just the town of Wylie, Texas in 2016.  

A hail barrage in Calgary, Alberta, Canada last year forced insurers to write off more cars than the total number sold annually in Alberta each year. 

I don't know whether Friday's and last night's widespread hail will have damage total as huge as those.  It'll depend if they targeted cities with plenty of roofs, windows, cars and trucks to trash. Surely, however, insurance adjusters will be awfully busy over the next days and weeks because of Friday's hail, which stretched from northern Texas to southern Alabama to North Carolina.

We do know that tennis and baseball sized hail came down in the suburbs south of Dallas-Fort Worth Friday.  Early this morning, baseball and tennis ball sized hail crashed down on the beaches, condos and resorts along the Alabama Gulf Coast. 

Big hail storms tend to focus on the same parts of the nation that tornadoes tend to congregate.  Here in Vermont, though, we can get damaging hail, just as the occasional tornado spins up, as one did last month in Middlebury. 

A supercell thunderstorm in Addison and Rutland counties caused widespread hail damage to cars, windows and roofs, especially around Proctor and downtown Rutland back in May, 2014.  In July, 2009 the  largest hail stones on record for Vermont fell on Westford. Some were three inches in diameter, or a little bigger than baseballs. 

 Video from the local CBS affiliate in Dallas-Fort Worth: 

Large hail stones early this morning crashing down on a resort and its swimming pools in Orange Beach, Alabama:

Western Fires Just Won't Stop

People fleeing Estes Park, Colorado Thursday as wildfires rage
nearby. Photo was taken during the day, but the smoke made
things dark as night. Photo via Twitter @KevinJBeaty

The same weather pattern I described yesterday - the big storm out over the Atlantic and the big, wintry cold wave in the northern Rockies and Plains - is helping to make the never-ending western fire season even worse.  

That's just when people thought it couldn't get any worse. 

One new fire in Colorado grew to 125,000 acres and quadrupled in size just overnight Wednesday. 

It forced - once again - hasty evacuations, reports of lots of structures lost and questions about when this and other fires will ever get under control. 

Strong west winds swept fire through stands of trees - many of them dead and bone dry from pine bark beetles.  The blaze called the East Troublesome Fire, managed to cross the Continental Divide. That's a feat considering the peaks usually are snow covered this time of year. 

This movement forced the fire toward the picturesque town of Estes Park. Parts of that town were evacuated under red skies and midday darkness caused by the smoke. 

The new East Troublesome fire is now the fourth largest fire in Colorado history. Three of the top five biggest wildfires in Colorado were/are this year. 

Strangely, low level cold air settled in to areas east of the mountains in places like Denver and Fort Collins. Those areas were socked in by clouds and even bits of freezing drizzle. But the low level cold air couldn't get past the mountains. Up there, it stayed windy and dry. 

That state of affairs will continue today in the mountains today.  

Meanwhile upper level winds are carrying the smoke east into the the cold and storminess hundreds of miles away in the upper Midwest. Skies over Minnesota were eerily dark and orange, thanks to a thick cloud cover mixed with the smoke in the clouds. 

Satellite view Thursday of clouds over the upper Midwest.
Brown smudges in the clouds is smoke from Colorado wildfires

Some of the snow coming from those clouds and accumulating on the ground was orangish-gray.  The snow was mixed with some wildfire soot. 

Back in the Rockies where the fired blaze, people are celebrating a weather forecast people would might normally dread.  The Arctic air will plunge southward in earnest over the weekend, causing near record cold and snow over the Colorado fire zone.

That will certainly help, but probably not rid the state of the fires. Conditions will once again turn dry and breezy next week.

Meanwhile, in northern California, the cold Arctic high pressure will contribute to strong northeasterly winds that will dry up and get warmer as they had toward that region.  That means a high risk of new wildfires, and worsening existing wildfires in hard hit areas like the Napa Valley, areas north of Sacramento and the Bay Area.

Forecasters are warning that strong winds Sunday night and Monday could be worse than in the devastating wine country fires in 2017.  Those fires devastated parts of Santa Rosa, California and many other areas of northern California.