Strong jet stream winds aloft have created a wide range of weather conditions across Colorado. The westerly jet stream flow has managed to usher out the majority of the Arctic air, so temperatures warmed dramatically over the Denver area and adjacent plains. The high temperature in Denver on Monday was a mild 55 degrees. This marked an amazing climb from the morning low of 5 degrees below zero! The westerly winds that developed during the day warmed as the air descended from the Continental Divide down to the I-25 Corridor. This warming is called adiabatic warming and is caused by the compression of the air as it sinks to lower elevations. When the air is dry, that warming is 3.5 degrees for every 1,000 feet of descent. Therefore, a bubble or parcel of air that has a temperature of 30 degrees at 13,000 feet would warm about 28 degrees by the time it reaches Denver! While Denver enjoyed the warm up, it was extremely windy in the mountains and foothills west of Denver. The strongest gust reported today was a 109 mph zephyr in South Park this morning. These winds made for dangerous travel in the mountains, with blizzard and icy conditions up and down the northern Front Range. The winds will not be quite as strong Tuesday, as the jet stream winds aloft will weaken a bit. Expect a sun/cloud mix with highs in the middle 40s for the metro area. The weather will generally be dry, with just a little snow possible over the highest peaks along and north of I-70. The jet stream is really roaring over the lower 48 states right now. The strong northwest to southeast flow pattern is steering plenty of cold air from central Canada into the central and eastern United States. An Arctic outbreak is blasting the eastern half of the nation with temperatures well below normal from the Dakotas to the Gulf Coast. Colorado is on the western edge of this strong jet stream, so we will have periodic strong wind events in the mountains and foothills over the next few days. In addition, we will catch some of the cold air from time to time as a series of cold front roar down from Canada into the eastern U.S. Tuesday night and Wednesday, one of these cold fronts will blow through. This is much like the one that impacted us on Saturday, but it does not look like there will be as much snow. It looks like an inch or less Tuesday night and Wednesday, but temperatures will drop a bit and stay near freezing Wednesday. The weather roller coaster will continue to for the rest of this week. The weather will warm again Thursday, then another chance for snow and colder weather on Friday. Saturday will be dry and a bit milder, followed by a slight chance for snow on Sunday. It is too early to say whether or not the Sunday system will linger long enough to impact the Bronco Game.
Posted on: Tue, 06 Jan 2015 03:14:21 +0000