The weekly weather forecast for the high country of Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado. Researched and written weekly by professional meteorologist and avid mountaineer, Dan "the weather man" Gottas.
| Wednesday, July 29th, 2009 Rocky Mountain National Park Weather Forecast
A moist and unstable weather pattern returned to the mountains of RMNP this past week.
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The Week in Review
Anomalously low pressure developed over the north-central US. This allowed cool and moist weather disturbances to track southeastward across the northern US Rockies from Canada.
The resulting weather over RMNP consisted of extensive cloudiness, cooler temperatures, and convective showers and thunderstorms, particularly during the afternoon and evening.
The Estes Valley received around one inch of rain over the past week, but higher amounts fell over the surrounding higher terrain.
Before the unsettled weather pattern developed, the driest and most stable weather occurred on last Thu. and Friday. |
The Keyhole and North Ridge of Longs Peak during the dry spell on July 19th, 2009
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The Upcoming Week
One more weather system in the northwesterly flow will clip northeast CO on Fri. However, the atmosphere over RMNP is forecast to dry out before and during its passage.
The higher elevation northwesterly winds will pick up, as favorable conditions come together for mountain-wave accelerations.
Bone dry air will work its way into the region on Sat. and will persist to a lesser extent through Sun. This should lead to stable and mostly cloud-free weather conditions. Temperatures are expected to warm as well, as high pressure builds northward from NM.
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As the NM ridge continues to build, air flow around the anticyclone will tap some the unstable subtropical air over MX and transport it northward into CO beginning around Mon. (NA monsoon pattern).
While the southern and central mountains of CO will be the early recipients of this pattern change, convective instability (afternoon t-storm risk) will gradually increase over the northern mountains during the week, as the moisture transports persist.
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The summit of the Petit Grepon before the storm hits.
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The NWS numerical forecast for the mountains of RMNP over the upcoming weekend is as follows:
Click chart to enlarge
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Detailed 7-Day Forecast
The link above will take you to the National Weather Service forecast for the 12,000 foot level near Longs Peak. These forecasts are derived from computer-generated numerical forecasts, and are updated shortly after 3:30 am, 9:30 am, 3:30 pm, and 9:30 pm local time. In the lower right-hand corner of the page, one can view forecasts for other locations in the Park by clicking on the desired location in the terrain map.
Do-It-Yourself Weather Forecast Links
The link above provides a list of web links to various sites containing a variety of meteorological data and information. Collectively, these resources can be used to monitor and study current weather conditions, as well short-term, medium-range, and climate forecasts
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