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.

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.

Weather summary for Sunday, 10/25

Historically, this is a memorable day, as 12 years ago on this date, we had "The Blizzard of '97", with drifts up to 15 feet in some areas.

For today, with one storm moving out, and another moving in, I didn't have time to put the "official" statewide statistics on the weathercast, so here they are...

City High Low Precip through 6 PM
Alamosa 48 31 Trace
Canon City 52 34
Colorado Springs 40 32 .08"
Denver 40 32 .06"
La Junta 48 41 .44"
Lamar 50 41 Data Missing
Leadville 30 16 .25"
Limon 42 34 Trace
Pueblo 44 39 .29"
Trinidad 40 33 Data Missing

and while we're on the subject, how about a few snowfall totals?
6" 2 west of Rye in Pueblo county
5" Beulah in Pueblo county
4" 2 S. of Cuchara, Huerfano county; 4 NE of Florissant, Teller county;
3" Woodland Park, Teller county; 3 WSW of Colorado Sprins, El Paso county
5 WSW of Walsenburg, Huerfano county
1" 2 N of Black Forest, El Paso county

Netbook Vs. Notebook.

It's a Saturday night, a cold front is racing in, the pressure is falling (and I can feel it in my joints....maturity is not for the faint of heart ).

First of all, thanks to all of the Colorado Springs Independent readers who cast your votes for Mike Daniels and me for best weathercasters. This year, he took the gold, and I have the silver. We've flip-flopped on those over the past decade or so....we both appreciate the votes of confidence.

Now then, on to the technical musings...

I've been using an Acer Aspire One netbook as my carry-along computer for quite some time now, so here's a quick update on how viable going for a notebook to a netbook is for everyday mobile computing...VERY.

Keep in mind that they don't come with an optical drive (to read CD's and DVD's), but you can pick up an external model for a reasonable price, and they work well. What they usually DON'T tell you is that many of the external drives won't run off the power available in a single USB port on your netbook (or your laptop, for that matter either). The solution is fairly simple, you pick up a special cable that allows you to plug your external drive into 2 usb ports at the same time.

This usually does the trick. It provides enough power, your system recognizes the drive (mine kept thinking it was a flash drive...REALLY annoying), and it chugs along smoothly, reading, writing and providing DVD movie power to your portable. Just got finished watching a movie on the acer, with an I/O Magic external reader/writer, and it looked GREAT on that little screen. OK, it's not the largest viewing surface available, but it's bigger than the iPod Touch you've been watching those TV shows on.

As to the Acer itself, once you get used to the smaller keyboard, you can type almost at your peak speed. I use OpenOffice for my word processing and spreadsheets, and performance has been flawless. WiFi is good and other than the fact that the unit has a fan that sounds like the shuttle landing, I just don't have any substantive complaints.

If you find a good deal (I got mine refurbished for $180), don't hesitate. It's nice to cut down on the weight in your computer bag without giving up the functionality.

I've discovered some really great Podcasts recently...in future entries, I'll share those with you, and I'd appreciate it if you'd share your favorites with me.

Snow totals for southern Colorado 10/21/09

While for many in the NewsFirst 5 viewing area, it was more rain, fog, drizzle and the occasional snowflake, in the areas where it snowed, it was impressive. Here are the most recent totals...

17.00" - 2 S of Cuchara
14.00" - SE of La Veta
12.00" - 6 NE of the Spanish Peaks; SW of Beulah
11.30" - La Veta
11.00" - 2 S of La Veta Pass
10.40" - Maysville
10.00" - WNW of Walsenburg and WSW of Walsenburg ; 2 W of Rye; 2 WSW of Rosita
09.50" - WSW of Boncarbo
09.00" - 4 NE of Florissant
08.00" - 1 W of Farisita; 1 WNW of Walsenburg; 10 S of Cokedale
07.00" - 1 W of Antonito
06.00" - 8 N of Trinidad; Woodland Park
05.40" - Beulah
05:00" - Fox Run (East of Baptist Road); 1 WSW of Woodland Park; Woodland Park
04.50" - La Junta; 6 E of Monument
04:40" - Maysville
04:00" - 2 N of Black Forest
03.90" - 6 W of Westcliffe
03.80" - 4 WNW of Buena Vista
03.00" - 4 ENE of Stonewall; 1 W of Farisita
02.90" - Westcliffe

In addition, Pueblo reported record precipitation for the date. At least .92" since midnight. Old record - .36" set in 1979

New records in Colorado Springs/Pueblo

Those Chinook winds boosted highs to record levels on Sunday, 10/18 in southern Colorado.

Colorado Springs had a high of 82, replacing the old record of 81 set in 2003

Pueblo tied it's record of 88 set in 2003.

Both cities reported gusty winds. Peak gusts were 28 mph in Colorado Springs (at the airport) and 38 mph in Pueblo (also at the airport)

Memorable Halloween nights in Pueblo

From the history books (thanks to the NWS Forecast Office in Pueblo)...

The last impressively cold Halloween was in 2002. According to the records, the day started at at 23 degrees, with ice covered roads. It only warmed up to 29 that day, with cold, freezing drizzle for the evenings activities.

Then there was 1991. The day started with 7 inches of snow on the ground, and an additional 3.2 inches during the day. The high just inched to 34 degrees during the day, and plummeted to a recrod 14 degrees that night.

Back to the year, I graduated from High School, 1972. the day started with a trace of snow on the ground, but that was just the beginning. A record 12.6 inches fell that day, with a high of 29.

These records date back to 1888, with data as recent as 2008.