That is 100% true.

This one is looking like the real McCoy though, major upslope flow pulling lots of moisture from the Gulf.


Northern Colorado / southern Wyoming looks to be where the highest totals will occur. But we shall see. We aren't planning to leave the house for the next few days except to shovel. And we're talking to a roofer about having our roof cleared. If memory serves me right we have had unusually strong late spring and early fall storms for the past couple of years.

Glad you were able to change your dates Banff.

The weather folks were right! This is what we woke up to this morning and it's still coming down like gangbusters.

We have about 15 inches in our patio this morning, still coming down hard. We shoveled last night around 11:00 PM when there was only about 4 inches. It was the wettest heaviest snow we've had in a long time, and I don't think that is solely explained by our advancing age.

As the model was predicting, the Colorado - Wyoming border has the largest amounts. See this map of past 24 hour snowfall which was generated about 3 hours ago.



Guess they cancelled over 1,000 flights at DIA both yesterday and today.

Reports of trees down around Larimer County, going out to shake the snow off some of our trees now.

Nelson -

Just the other day my husband said he 'overbought' our new snow blower. I suspect he's secretly looking forward to blowing our 250 foot long, very steep driveway with The Beast.

Hope he has fun Mel - I suspect he will. BTW, that is a great picture worth a thousand words that you posted.

"I don't think that is solely explained by our advancing age."

Made me smile...

And so it begins...

The pictures are amazing ... especially beautiful for southerners.
We arrived in Den last night and went directly to an airport hotel. I was impressed with the progress the snow removers (what southerners assume they are called have already made.
Today we'll pick up a rental car and drive to the mountains. People on our flight said we need an SUV but it's a little too late for that....we just have a regular car. Praying 70 will be clear.

I love the chiseled corners on the picture!!
I thought you had been able to completely change your time!! Must have missed it. I heard the airport was closed for a day or so so you were lucky.
Have fun in the snow. If you don't get it often you might as well have too much. LOL

Prayers answered! Looks like a some icy spots on 70, and wet, but otherwise clear sailing. Make sure your windshield washer fluid is full, might need it. Have a great trip.

Amazing
Did I hear that the mountains really didn't get that much snow? Radio report about how much this will help the drought--but not the mountains.

Yes, that's true Gretchen. I spoke to my friend in Estes Park yesterday. He set up a snow gauge so he could measure up to 48 inches, but only got 20, about the same that we had in Fort Collins. I think Breckenridge had 8 or 9 inches. The moisture came out of the east and piled up against the east side of the mountains.

I suppose the drought report you heard is accurate. Here's a drought map of the US, you can click on a region / state to drill down.
https://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/

As I understand it, the extreme drought in the southwest is a result of the current La Nina weather pattern.

I live in the mountains! Plenty up here at 8,500 feet, but I guess the ski areas didn't fare as well.

So we are actually staying in Goldenand this was our drive back to the hotel yesterday evening!!! And they said the snowstorm was over So glad we upgraded to a 4x4 when we were originally in a car. Pickup trucks were sliding all over, struggling up mountains, Semi's were stuck and we got stuck in one spot , not moving for an entire hour as night began to fall.

Welcome to Colorado Banff, where the snowstorm is never over, lol. That snow yesterday was predicted and we're in for more this weekend.

Hope you are at least getting in some good skiing Banff! Looks like the next few days should be beautiful, but as Mel noted more snow coming this weekend, on schedule for the first full day of Spring. We've seen that before.

We may try to get out of our neighborhood today to see if we can reach one of the main roads in town. But this is the street that leads out of our subdivision, so we have to go around a back way where streets are not plowed. May not happen until tomorrow. This is an ash tree, so it was going to have to come down one of these days anyway.

Yes, the skiing has been wonderful!
We were here a couple weeks ago and I drove straight up to the mountains the first night and dealt with altitude sickness.
This time we acclimated in Denver for one day and stayed in Golden. The drive was a pain but after a day of activity we always started to feel the altitude at the end of the day and can't imagine sleeping at high altitude again.
Any thoughts on that? I just can't believe so many people ski and sleep at 10k ft.

It really depends on the person Banff.

I grew up in CO, but my husband's job then took us to other states and overseas, where we spent many years at sea level. I had no issues with the altitude when I returned home for yearly or twice yearly visits...until one particular visit when I had bronchitis and decided to go hiking at 10,000 feet (dumb move)...and a second visit when I zipped up to 9,000 feet to go hiking a few days after I got back. It wasn't the altitude so much as exerting myself at altitude.

For the first time I really felt the altitude, although I never felt sick, I just couldn't breathe very well.

When we moved back to CO to retire six years ago, we bought a house at 8,500 feet. A house with multiple sets of stairs. The flurry of activity associated with moving in was harder than usual due to the altitude and us coming from sea level in Australia (and all those damn stairs!). It took awhile to adapt...we were older and had been away for years at that point. Getting back into my work out routine at 8,500 feet was suddenly challenging.

It's like all things, it becomes part of your life. You learn when you need to take it easy and you learn to stay hydrated.

Glad the skiing is going well.

> You learn when you need to take it easy and you learn to stay hydrated.

Yes, in my experience, which includes probably a couple hundred nights camped above 10,000', those are the two biggest factors. But you never know how it will affect you from time to time.

Good luck and glad you are getting some good skiing in.