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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.
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Thursday, June 9th, 2011
Rocky Mountain National Park Weather Forecast
The first full week of warm early summer weather conditions arrived to the hills of RMNP.
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Week in Review
Warm southwesterly flow ahead of a quasi-stationary area of low pressure along the US west coast brought nearly continuous above freezing temperatures to most alpine locations from 6/1 through 6/7. The deep and persistent southwesterly flow also transported significant amounts of smoke over the Park from the large wildfires burning in Arizona.
The alpine and sub-alpine snowpack began to unlock its above-average water content in a big way, with many creeks and streams flowing above their 8-year daily median values. By 6/6, the Big Thomson below Moraine Park was flowing at nearly twice its typical flow for the date.
Despite the warm atmospheric temperatures, dry, clear nights allowed for significant long-wave radiative losses in the alpine zone, which forced the near surface snow to freeze. Consequently, strong solar heating during the morning hours produced brief but high-quality corn cycles.
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A graphed summary of the last week's weather and river flow patterns across RMNP.
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Weather forecast for RMNP showing great weather through the next weekend and the best ice climbing morning looking like Friday the 10th. Ice climbing with headlamps would be the best idea this time of year below 13k.
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The Upcoming Week
A storm system moving eastward out of the Pacific Northwest will track across Wyoming on Thursday (6/9). A period of brief cooling and windier conditions will follow this wave passage through early Friday morning. Convective precipitation responses are expected to remain to the east over the neighboring foothills and high plains.
Temperatures will rebound and the winds will slacken over the weekend, as the strongest westerlies retreat northward, and this trend will continue into next week.
With RMNP located south of the westerly storm track and still well north of subtropical monsoon-like circulations, precipitation chances will remain low over the next week.
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Joanne Helmuth finishing the third pitch of Hiatus on the Book at Lumpy Ridge, Colorado on June 8th. The weather has been ideal in Estes with a lack of daytime thunderstorms and cool enough temperatures to keep the rubber sticking to granite.
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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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