Nov. 17, 2009

Two decent storms have hit Denver and left behind quite a bit of snow over the last month, and if trends are any indication of what's to hold, we may see a smiliar pattern set up again in late winter/early Spring. These early storms are typical for an El Niño pattern which we are seeing right now.

El Niño, a warming event of the tropical Pacific Ocean that affects weather patterns in the United States and elsewhere, has strengthened in recent months and already appears to have influenced Colorado’s fall weather, says Klaus Wolter, an atmospheric scientist with the University of Colorado at Boulder and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

“Four of the last five El Niños have had a snowy October here on the Front Range of Colorado,” said Wolter. “In general, it tends to be wetter than average in the fall season -- September through November -- from Arizona through New Mexico and Colorado into the high plains.”

However as the fall turns into the dead of winter, the storm track shifts and usually leads to fewer storms across the region. While this doesn't sound like great news, it doesn't mean the area won't see snow at all. It just means the storms will be fewer. Not happy news if you're a snow person, especially in the mountains. Ski resorts at the higher elevations typically have drier winters during El Niño. The storms that do hit will be hard hitters, but they won't be frequent enough to give out a lot of powder days.

But there is a silver lining to this, said Wolter. While chances are that the state will have fewer snowstorms, temperatures will tend to hover closer to normal and there should be fewer windstorms, especially along the Front Range.

“An El Niño doesn’t mean you can’t get a windstorm, it just means you don’t get high wind speeds like 60 miles per hour for days on end,” he said.

As winter comes to a close, the storm track moves back into a favorable area to bring hard hitting snows back to the region, including the front range. The resorts east of the divide will tend to have a much wetter Spring as well. In fact, the big storms of 1997 and 2003 both occured during El Niño years, along with the Christmas blizzards of 2006 which were rare given the normally dry mid-winter setting. And of course, this year's El Niño gave us the two-footer back in October.

While strong storms are not uncommon during this pattern, Wolter says that occurances such as the 2006/2007 season are not likely, even with El Niño present.

Nov. 10, 2009

"Storm Chasers" on the Discovery Channel continues this Sunday with the fifth episode of season 3 and once again will feature Denver-based storm chasers Tim Samaras and Tony Laubach. Tim heads up the research team, TWISTEX, and will continue to be featured every Sunday through November on "Storm Chasers"

This week's episodes will feature one of TWISTEX's shining moments in southwest Kansas. The show will also have Colorado ties and should feature clips from the Southlands Mall tornado earlier this year as the Denver-based group was out chasing in Missouri. 7News Meteorologist Chris Spears may also get a cameo in the episode as well, so its definitely worth watching this Sunday!

The episode will air this Sunday on the Discovery Channel at 8pm MT. This is the fifth of eight episodes in this series that will air through the first weekend in December.

Nov. 1, 2009

DO NOT MISS THE COLORADO ENVIRONMENTAL FILM FESTIVAL!

If you're passionate about the environment and love watching films, check out the fourth Annual Colorado Environmental Film Festival, running from Nov. 5 to 7 at the American Mountaineering Center in Golden.

The festival will also include a mix of films showing audiences where oil comes from and explaining where old televisions, computers or cell phones end up. TAPPED, a noteworthy film, will show the future of our precious water resources for Colorado's landscape and the livelihoods of landowners.

In all, two dozen films will be shown during the four-day event.

On Saturday filmmakers will answer audience questions about their films and explain what it takes to produce an environmental film. There will also be a silent auction during the festival, where patrons can bid on some of the DVD versions of the films and other environmentally friendly items.

Over the weekend, many organizations will be at the festival with information on the environment, including Project Learning Tree, the International Center for Appropriate and Sustainable Technology, Colorado Mountain Club, the U.S. Forest Service and Colorado State Forest Service.

There is also fun for the kids on Saturday from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. There will be activities available to teach kids about renewable and nonrenewable energy sources.

The festival will also hold a free recycling event of electronics, such as PCs, cell phones, fax machines, printers, microwaves and anything with a circuit board. Monitors can be recycled for an $8 fee, televisions for $10 to $25. The recycling event will be held Saturday, Nov. 7 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Mountaineering Center.

If you would like to purchase tickets and download a schedule with brief synopsis of each film, go to: the Web site for Colorado Environmental Film Festival 2009.

Previous Entries:

• Mike's Blog Archives