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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.
may18weather<strong></strong><span style="font-size: 10pt;" ><strong></strong></span>
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Wednesday, May 18th, 2011
Rocky Mountain National Park Weather Forecast
An unsettled spring weather pattern continued over RMNP over the past week.
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Week in Review
In classic May fashion along the Front Range of CO, the weather wavered between moisture-laden stormy periods and warm sun-baking sessions.
A weakened but active Pacific jet stream has continued to track winter-like storm systems across the inter-mountain west. Owing to a moister and warmer lower atmosphere, convective responses have produced spatially varied and often intense periods of precipitation with the passage of each system.
While the bulk of the new precipitation fell just south of the Park, most areas across the Park received about 0.75” of liquid equivalent over the week. While the water stored in the sub-alpine snowpack has begun its downward trend from its recent seasonal peak of two weeks ago, the melting rate has been greatly reduced (relative to climatology) by the recent cool conditions.
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A graphed summary of the last week's weather weather patterns across RMNP.
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The weather forecast for May 18-26th , 2011 over the skies of RMNP, Colorado with sunny skies coming our way this weekend.
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The Upcoming Week
The recently active storm track will continue its bullish ways into the upcoming week.
Varying amounts of precipitation are currently in the forecast every day for the upcoming seven days. Sunday (5/22) looks to have the best (driest) weather of the upcoming weekend (with only some afternoon convective precip), while Tuesday/Wednesday (5/24-25) has the potential of producing copious amounts of precipitation in excess of 2-3 inches of liquid equivalent.
As the current storm system tracks northeastward on 5/19, the winds will rotate around from a westerly direction. Through 5/21, this pattern will produce the windiest period of the week, but gusts are currently not forecast to exceed 30 mph.
The warmest temperatures of the week are expected over the weekend, particularly on 5/22.
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Finley Helmuth aka Snow Spider Boy doing a dance on May 18th to ward-off the snow. With 10 inches on the deck @8700' elevation by 5am on the 19th, the dance apparently needs more work.
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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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