Northerly winds and snowfall totals

The current storm is a good case-in-point for the effect of northerly winds in the NewsFirst 5 viewing area, and the key principle is, where the wind forces the air uphill, you get more snowfall, where it's moving downhill, there's less.

Everybody got the cold and the wind, but keep in mind that a northerly wind moves to lower elevations (it's going downhill) from Monument, through the Colorado Springs Metro area to Pueblo, and the snowfall totals reflect that. They're higher in Monument, Palmer Lake, Black Forest, Pine Creek, northern Briargate, etc, and in the eastern part of El Paso county along Highway 24, because these cities are on or close to the Palmer Divide (which forces the wind uphill). They're lower (or almost nothing) from Fountain to Pueblo.

It's also interesting to note that higher elevations around the Colorado Springs Metro area picked up more snow than downtown. A few that come to mind are Kissing Camels, and eastward near Powers.

This rule works for MOST storms that produce northerly winds from the Continental Divide eastward in our state. For the rare exception, always err on the side of caution.