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The weekend weather forecast for the high country of Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado. Researched and written by professional meteorologist and avid mountaineer, Dan "the weather man" Gottas.
feb17weather
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Thursday, February 17th, 2011
Rocky Mountain National Park Weather Forecast
Over the past week, the Park received a warm reprieve from the recent wintery storm cycle.
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Week in Review
A significant change in the storm track across the Pacific brought an end to a 6-week long dry spell along the US west coast.
This transition allowed high pressure to build over the Rockies which produced warm, dry, and windy weather conditions across RMNP.
While the temperature warmed significantly from the arctic levels of the previous week, strong and persistent northwesterly wind gusts between 50 and 80 mph maintained raw weather conditions near and above treeline.
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A graphed summary of the last week's weather weather patterns over RMNP.
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The Weather Forecast Feb. 17-24, 2011.
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The Upcoming Week
A prolonged storm cycle is setting up for the US west coast for at least the next two weeks. This time, storm energy is forecast to amplify and track across CA and eject eastward over the central and southern Rockies.
This pattern will bring periods of colder temperatures and snow to RMNP every three days or so. Over the next week, passing storm systems on Thursday (2/16), Sunday (2/20), and Wednesday (2/23) will provide opportunities for new accumulating snow.
The first storm (2/16) will be accompanied by strong west-southwesterly flow, which when combined with unstable lapse rates will enhance orographic snow production (6-10” of new snow is forecast).
The second two systems will be accompanied by south-southwesterly flow. This combined with a more southerly position in jet stream will focus most of the new snow over the southern and central ranges of CO.
However, with unstable lapse rates (read: signs of spring) expected with each system, the potential for a few inches of new snow here and there will keep conditions fresh during this time.
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Fritz Moriarty dropping a knee in the Dragontail Couloir on Feb. 6th, 2011 with a meter of new, uncohesive snow. It doesn't get much better than this!
Join ClimbingLife Guides for the best skiing that RMNP has to offer.
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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.
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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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