|
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.
jan12weather
|
Wednesday, January 12th, 2011
Rocky Mountain National Park Weather Forecast
Another shot of winter cold and snow paid a visit to RMNP over the past week.
|
|
Week in Review
A ridge of high pressure along the west coast maintained a northwest-to-southeast oriented storm track over CO. This track guided a cold weather system across RMNP on 1/9-10.
The storm produced about 6-10 inches of new snow across the higher elevations of the Park, and ushered in cold arctic temperatures. For a two-day period, the thermometer remained in the single digits below zero F near treeline.
Wind speeds remained low during and shortly after the new snow fell, making for safely skiable powder conditions. By the latter part of 1/10, however, wind gusts gained strength in the post frontal environment and ramped up to 50 mph level.
With these magnitudes persisting for 48 hours following the storm, the powder quickly transformed into cohesive slab on lee and cross-loaded aspects on the eastern side of the compass.
The snowpack remains above average for this time of year across all locations of RMNP. The snow water equivalence at Bear Lake is currently at 133% of average, or about a month ahead of the climatological schedule.
|
A graphed summary of the last week's weather systems and accumulated snow/water at Bear Lake.
|
|
The Weather Forecast- Jan. 13-20, 2011.
|
|
The Upcoming Week
The west coast ridge will persist over the next week. This will maintain the northwesterly race track across RMNP, with frequent periods of snow and persistent mountain-wave induced wind accelerations east of the Divide.
Up to an inch of new snow water equivalence is forecast to fall over the upcoming week, with the highest amounts favoring the western section of the Park. On Monday, a strong jet stream will be in a favorable position over northern CO to force a good round of snow and strong northwesterly winds.
Temperatures will remain near seasonal values through the weekend, but colder air is forecast to move in on Tuesday (1/18 ) and will be reinforced by another colder system on Thursday (1/20).
|
The Dragontail and Dead Elk Couloirs following the recent storm.
|
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
|
|
