Category: Learn Front Range Weather (Page 1 of 4)

A Personal Goodbye to the American NAM Model, Retired After 20 Years

The weather world lost a small piece of its history this week with the sunset of the American NAM model. Coincidentally, this model and my meteorology career started almost exactly the same time in 2006. Since then, both have been on quite a journey. While technology marches forward and better models take its place, it’s impossible not to reflect on the role this one played, not just in forecasting, but in shaping the career of countless meteorologists, myself included.

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This Week in Colorado Weather: December 8, 2025

The Front Range finally saw its first real snow of the season last week, with Boulder picking up about 8 inches and the Foothills a bit more. The Mountains then cashed in over the weekend, stacking up one to four feet of powder. While this moisture is a welcome boost to our lagging snowpack, it’s not enough to erase drought concerns—but fire risk this year looks very different than the setup before the Marshall Fire. Looking ahead, the story shifts from snow to wind: multiple high‑wind events are on tap for the Foothills this week, while Boulder and Denver stay mostly dry and mild with highs in the 50s to 60s with occasional breeziness. Read on for the full breakdown of this week’s weather.

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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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Premium BoulderCAST Daily – Wed 02/26/25 | Notably cooler today, warm weather returns tomorrow, and an update on next week’s interesting pattern shift

Tuesday's high temperatures reached the middle to upper 60s across the area, while maximum wind gusts were in the 40 to 60 MPH range during the day. It was a warm but ultimately blustery day across the Front Range. T-shirt weather in February is hard to beat, though! The promised cold front arrived around midnight into Boulder last night, the …

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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