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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.
oct7 weather forecast
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Thursday, October 7th, 2010
Rocky Mountain National Park Weather Forecast
Another week of friendly fall weather occurred over the high peaks of RMNP.
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Week in Review
Daily high temperature trends near and above treeline resumed their slow and steady retreat from the warm levels of late summer.
While the diurnal temperature behaviors across the highest alpine elevations have been cold enough to form some water ice, very scant amounts of early season snowfall have effectively choked off the necessary water supply for further formation growth.
Less than 0.1 inch of precipitation fell with convective activity on 10/5 ahead of an approaching storm system in the westerlies. Winds have remained quite manageable, with gusts near treeline remaining below 30 mph and mostly in the 10-20 mph range.
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The last week's wind and temp.'s at 11,500'.
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Some of the fresh snow from recent storms has remained intact on the coldest and highest elevation massifs in RMNP including the north face of Mt. Meeker, (above) in early Oct., 2010.
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The Upcoming Weekend
The current western wave of low pressure over the Great Basin will eject northeastward across the northern Rockies on Friday.
While the western slope of the CO mountains are forecast to receive upwards of 0.5 inches of liquid during its passage, the mountains of RMNP are only forecast to receive the dissipative leftovers, which shouldn’t amount to more than 0.1 inch of liquid.
The coldest and windiest conditions will occur in the post-frontal environment on Sat 10/9, with freezing levels dropping to 10 kft during the morning and stable northwesterly flow gusting in the lee of the Divide in the 30-40 mph range.
The next chance for precipitation comes on Tue 10/12, as a cold front drops southeastward along the northern Rockies The fast moving nature and limited scale of this feature will once again keep amounts to a minimum. from the northwest.
Temperatures will once again warm and winds will slacken by mid to late week, as another ridge of high pressure builds over the central Rockies.
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Solid ice conditions in the Flying Dutchman Couloir on Longs Peak in early Oct. 2008. Ice season could be happening soon?
Photo by Scott Borger.
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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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