Thermalwind's Colorado Winter 2021

Where are you again Thermal? Is that a lake in the background? Elevation?

This is awesome!

Thursday Jan 21




Got into the upper 30s today, with moisture increasing. It's currently 23 and we got 65% humidity, so a dew point of 13 F currently. This is pretty moist relative to the past two days. 



You can see the first signs of the incoming storm system. Moisture increasing with flow out of the NW. Ended up being able to squeeze out some flurries along the Divide and the really high peaks (13K ft+) to my SW. Winds will end up shifting to out of the SW and a richer moisture profile coming in. This won't be a huge event here, might get like 3-6" over the weekend between the two systems coming across. 



At the 500 mb level, have a disturbance up near Washington State and the decaying upper low that was positioned near Baja for most of the week. Eventually all of this will merge, and leave us with a nice longwave trough off the North Cali coast. 



Northern end of the energy splits and sends the first disturbance over the Rockies. Probably the better positioned of the two disturbances that will swing through for snow here. 



By Monday, the southern disturbance has moved through the four corners and into Oklahoma and Kansas.

These two systems ought to be bountiful for the SW mountains, west facing slopes should do better as well. It's going to be mostly relying on the mountains to provide the lift around here too.

That's it for tonight. 

Those look like lenticular clouds!

I spent some time in Salida.... Fly fished the Arkansas in that stretch. Breckenridge was my most frequent skiing spot.

Absolutely beautiful country... Any time of year.

The dry air induced nose bleeds are the only single drawback for me ..

Gorgeous country, thermalwind - my late husband's(1st husband), family had a ski ranch in Placerville. We lived there before Telluride exploded as a vacation destination. Have a great winter!

Friday Jan 22

The winds of winter are blowing in this afternoon. After topping out at 40 thanks to the sun reflecting off the iced over lake, the clouds and cold winds have taken over. Dipping into the mid 30s and watching the Divide feast upon the moist (relative) feed out of the SW.




Can you tell where the tall peaks are? 




This would be just above the ground at my location. Getting that warm moisture from the Pacific and pushing it NE. First disturbance dives down and moves through the Great Basin overnight. 



My southern disposition wasn't ready for an hour outside with these wind chills in the 20s. That'll be negative by Wednesday morning. Ugh. 


This morning, the arrival of the moisture heralded by the poofy clouds coming over the mountains. 

Forecast for 1/2" - 1" snow here tonight. We'll see how it plays. 

Wind direction is everything, and it would take a powerful storm providing some dynamic lift to get bigger totals where I sit. Area is surrounded by high mountains but the Arkansas River cut a pretty wide valley from Leadville down to about my location in the very south of Lake County. Fascinating to watch right now as I get a feel for exactly how the peaks will effect my location.

The sublimation is new for me. Snow just disappears, leaving barely a wet spot to indicate where it was. Of course, there's not enough snow on the ground here to prevent some melting on roads and refreeze. Hope the next few days of flurries can lay enough down to make the driving a little less sketchy.