Category: Learn Front Range Weather (Page 1 of 3)

Forecast Update: A busy rest of the week with potential flash flooding and severe storms, plus thickening smoke

Colorado’s monsoon season has been off to a sluggish start, and the latest surge storm potential this week isn’t even from the monsoon itself—it’s thanks to potent cold fronts dropping in from the northeast. In today’s update, we dig into why flash flooding is on the rise this week, which areas are most at risk, and what the next few days could mean for our thirsty landscapes. Spoiler: while heavy rain is possible, it’s only a short window and many of us won’t see it. Plus, the new blanket of wildfire smoke is likely to stick around through the weekend.

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Rare and beautiful funnel cloud spotted in the Foothills of Boulder County Wednesday afternoon

Wednesday may have felt underwhelming across the lower elevations of the Front Range, where lingering low clouds kept things calm and cool for much of the day — but just west of Boulder, up in the sunshine-soaked Foothills, something rare and striking took shape Wednesday afternoon. A graceful funnel cloud twisted above the mountain peaks in a spot where such phenomena almost never occur. We explore why tornadoes (and their funnel-shaped precursors) are so uncommon in Colorado’s higher terrain, and take a closer look at what makes broader Boulder County particularly adverse to tornado development.

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Cleaner air is just another reason that official city fireworks will never return to Boulder

While fireworks once lit up Boulder’s Fourth of July, the city has moved on from the tradition due to rising fire risks, noise concerns, crowd issues, and high costs. But there’s another reason to consider: air quality. This year’s air quality data from across the Denver Metro area revealed that Boulder’s lack of a city-run fireworks show resulted in noticeably lower pollution levels compared to neighboring cities.

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Comparing the two epic March snowstorms that pummeled the Front Range exactly three years apart (2021 vs. 2024)

Last week’s dumping of wet snow in the Front Range occurred three years to the day after our most recent significant snowstorm back in March of 2021. We do a comparative analysis between these two epic mid-March snowstorms, examining their distinct storm tracks, the meteorological factors contributing to their varied snowfall production, and discuss their differing forecast hype. We also explore their respective snow totals and distribution across the Denver Metro area, including a detailed account of how these two snowstorms were able to make Front Range history exactly three years apart despite being so fundamentally different.

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Winter Storm Recap: The system that buried the Front Range in cement was Boulder’s wettest February storm on record

Well, our snowfall forecast for the sloppy weekend storm ended up being a tad off in many areas. Hopefully our in-depth discussions in the days leading up to the event highlighted that the exact outcome of this warmer-than-usual storm was highly uncertain. We first review the record-breaking precipitation and snowfall totals across the Front Range. Then we discuss what went wrong with the forecast and dive into the finer details of this implausible moisture-infused winter storm.

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It’s Lightning Awareness Week! Find out why Colorado is one of the most deadly states for lightning

As you know, thunderstorms are usually a staple of summer in Colorado! Almost every day, monsoon moisture boils up into dark early afternoon clouds, some of which produce deadly cloud-to-ground lightning. We briefly review a few statistics and remind you that Colorado is ranked near the top of the list for lightning-related fatalities for a reason.

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