Chinook Winds

One of the most amazing weather phenomena we have east of the Rocky Mountains is Chinook winds, those westerly breezes that blow down the slopes of the mountains, making the snow disappear almost like magic.

As the wind moves down the east slopes of the rockies, the air becomes so warm and so dry that in most cases, the snow doesn't melt, it goes directly from snow to water vapor (which may be why some call these winds "snow eaters").

In any case, they'll be blowing for the next few days in southern Colorado, so expect rapidly disappearing snow and above-average highs.

By the way, we aren't the only place in the world that experiences these winds. The general category of "downslope" warming winds is "Foehn", from Austria, where they were first categorized. The Santa Ana of California works by the same process.