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.
sept 3 weather
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Wednesday September 2nd,
2009
Rocky
Mountain National Park Weather Forecast
Last
week ended with a couple of solid storm-free weather
days, before enough moisture returned to the area over last weekend to
rekindle
afternoon shower and thunderstorm activity.
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The Week in Review
The
current week began with very hazy conditions, as smoke
plumes from the wildfires in CA and UT made their northeastward trek
straight
for northern CO.
During
that time,
visibility was dramatically reduced and sunrises/sunsets were
colorfully
surreal.
Also,
the afternoon/evening shower and thunderstorm threat
was reduced to the isolated variety throughout most of the week.
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Click map to enlarge.
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The
Upcoming Week
The
current isolated afternoon storm activity is forecast to
continue for the remainder of this week.
The
atmosphere will moisten over the weekend, as subtropical
moisture works its way into western CO on southwesterly flow.
This
will increase the convective potential
energy, and thereby increase the coverage and occurrence of
afternoon/evening
showers and boom-booms over the state.
A
fall-like storm system will pass to our north by mid
week.
This may give an
additional boost
to afternoon thunderstorm formation before drier and more stable air
moves in
after its passage.
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The east face of Spearhead on a splitter 'Rado
alpine day. South-facing alpine walls such as the Saber, Petite Grepon, Arrowhead, Chasm View, Zowie, and Notchtop will be the most enjoyable temperature-wise for the month of September.
Click on image to enlarge.
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The
NWS numerical forecast for
the mountains of RMNP over
the upcoming weekend
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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