Winter Storm Warning 14, NWS Denver/Boulder, CO

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DENVER CO
320 AM MST SAT DEC 18 2010

.SHORT TERM...A STRONG NORTHWEST TO WESTERLY FLOW ALOFT WILL BE OVER
THE CWFA TODAY...THEN IT WILL TRANSITION TO WEST-SOUTHWESTERLY
TONIGHT.  STLT AND MODEL DATA INDICATE THERE WILL BE A STEADY
INCREASE OF PACIFIC MOISTURE INTO COLORADO THROUGH THE PERIOD.  IN
THE MOUNTAINS...700-500 MB LAPSE RATES IN THE 5-6C/KM TDA/TNGT.
UPPER LEVEL JET STREAM WINDS INCREASE FM 100 KTS TDA TO 125 KTS
OVERNIGHT.  QG VERTICAL VELOCITIES ARE PROGGED TO BE NEUTRAL THROUGH
THE PERIOD.  SPATIAL CROSS-SECTIONS INDICATE GOOD OROGRAPHIC
COMPONENT NEAR RIDGETOP MOISTURE DEEPENING TO AROUND 500 MB.  700 MB
TEMPERATURES NOT TOO COLD INITIALLY AROUND -6 TO -8C...SO
TEMPERATURE ADVECTION IS NEUTRAL AS WELL THROUGH TNGT.  THE BOTTOM
LINE...THERE WILL BE SNOW IN MOUNTAINS TODAY AND TNGT...BUT IT WILL
REMAIN LIGHT FOR THE MOST PART...WILL GO WITH MINIMAL AMOUNTS
ESPECIALLY IN ZONES 33/34.  WILL START TO WINTER STORM WARNING IN
ZONE 31 AT MIDNIGHT TONIGHT...WITH THE LION/S SHARE OF THE SNOW
EXPECTED SUNDAY AND MONDAY...SEE THE LONG TERM DISCUSSION BELOW.

AS FOR THE NERN PLAINS...HIGH CLOUDINESS WILL INCREASE THROUGH THE
DAY.  TEMPERATURES WILL BE A LITTLE WARMER BUT STILL JUST BLO
SEASONAL NORMALS.  WL ADD SOME PATCHY FREEZING FOG POSSIBLE FOR
PORTIONS OF THE NERN PLAINS UNTIL AROUND 15Z.  OVERALL ONLY MINOR
ADJUSTMENTS TO THE TEMPERATURE GRIDS TONIGHT.  CLOUD COVER WILL
ALLOW FOR LESS FRIGID MIN TEMPERATURES VS THIS MORNING.

.LONG TERM...STRONG WEST-SOUTHWEST JET OVER THE EASTERN PACIFIC
OCEAN AND WESTERN U.S. WILL CONTINUE TO PUMP MOISTURE INTO THE STATE
SUNDAY AND INTO NEXT WEEK. IF SNOW HAS NOT BECOME WIDESPREAD IN THE
MOUNTAINS IT WILL ON SUNDAY AS THE AIRMASS BECOMES SATURATED UP TO
400MB. SNOW MAY START OFF SUNDAY BEING PRIMARILY OROGRAPHIC.
HOWEVER...A SHORT WAVE EMBEDDED IN THE FLOW WILL PRODUCE LIFT AND
WIDESPREAD MOUNTAIN SNOW BY SUNDAY EVENING. SNOW WILL ALSO BECOME
HEAVY AT TIMES SUNDAY NIGHT. SOME OF THE PRECIPITATION WILL SPREAD
ACROSS THE DIVIDE SUNDAY NIGHT BECAUSE OF THE QG LIFT. EVEN THOUGH
DOWNSLOPE FLOW ACROSS THE MOUNTAINS WILL BE STRONG...WILL KEEP LOW
POPS ACROSS THE PLAINS SUNDAY NIGHT BECAUSE OF THE LIFT ALOFT. THE
PACIFIC ORIGIN OF THIS AIRMASS MEANS MILD TEMPERATURES WITH SOME
MOUNTAIN VALLEYS SEEING RAIN AT TIMES.

SNOW WILL CONTINUE MONDAY AND TUESDAY IN THE MOUNTAINS AS MOISTURE
CONTINUES TO STREAM INTO THE AREA. HOWEVER...THE SNOW WILL BE MAINLY
PRODUCED BY OROGRAPHIC LIFT SO THE HEAVIER SNOW AMOUNTS WILL BE ON
WEST FACING SLOPES. WINTER WEATHER HIGHLIGHTS WILL BE IN EFFECT
UNTIL MONDAY EVENING AND MAY EVEN NEED TO BE EXTENDED AS LIGHT SNOW
CONTINUES INTO MONDAY NIGHT AND TUESDAY.

TOTAL SNOW AMOUNTS WILL GREATLY VARY. ON WEST FACING SLOPES...SNOW
AMOUNTS OF 1 TO 3 FEET APPEAR LIKELY THROUGH THE DURATION OF THIS
STORM. WHILE THE MILD PROTECTED VALLEYS COULD RECEIVE LESS THAN 2
INCHES OF SNOW.

THERE WILL BE A CHANCE FOR LIGHT MOUNTAIN SNOW THROUGH THURSDAY AS
MOISTURE CONTINUES TO MOVE OVER THE MOUNTAINS. ONCE THE TROUGH AXIS
PUSHES EAST OF THE AREA THE CHANCE FOR MOISTURE WILL END. THIS WILL
NOT HAPPEN UNTIL THURSDAY OR FRIDAY. WILL HAVE LOW POPS FOR THE
PLAINS THURSDAY...AS THE CHANCE FOR MOISTURE INCREASES BECAUSE OF
THE UPPER LEVEL TROUGH PASSING OVER THE STATE.

&&

.AVIATION...VFR CONDITIONS EXPECTED THROUGH THE PERIOD.  HIGH LEVEL
CLOUDINESS WILL INCREASE ESPECIALLY AFTER 18Z AND CONTINUE INTO
SUNDAY.  ONLY QUESTIONABLE PERIOD MAY BE BETWEEN 00Z-06Z TNGT WHEN
SEE OCNL BKN CIGS OF 5-7K FT AGL CUD DEVELOP...WL GO WITH SCT CLOUD
GROUP IN THIS RANGE WITH THE 12Z TAF.  LGT SFC WINDS SHUD CONTINUE
THROUGH THE DAY.  WL FOLLOW THE RUC13 MDL WITH LGT SLY WINDS THROUGH
18Z...WITH WEAK NNELY WINDS THIS AFTN AS SFC TROUGH ALONG THE FRONT
RANGE STARTS TO STRENGTHEN.  AFTER 02Z...SFC WINDS SHUD START TO
SWITCH BACK TO DRAINAGE.

.BOU WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...WINTER STORM WARNING MIDNIGHT
TNGT UNTIL 5 PM MST MONDAY FOR THE PARK/NRN GORE RANGE ZONE 31.
WINTER STORM WATCH FOR THE RMNDR OF THE NORTH CENTRAL MTNS ZONES 33
AND 34 LATE TNGT THROUGH MONDAY AFTN.

COOPER/MEIER

<!doctype html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
  <meta charset="utf-8">
  <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
  <title>Service Notice</title>
  <link rel="stylesheet" href="index.css">
</head>
<body>
  <main class="wrap">
    <section class="card" role="status" aria-live="polite">
      <div class="status" id="status">Temporary Notice</div>
      <h1 id="headline">This service is currently unavailable.</h1>
      <p id="message1">
        The site you requested is temporarily down for maintenance or an unexpected outage.
      </p>
      <p id="message2">
        Please try again in a few minutes.
      </p>
      <p class="small" id="detail">
        If you are an administrator, restore upstream service and remove the redirect/fallback rule when normal operations resume.
      </p>
    </section>
  </main>
  <script src="index.js"></script>
</body>
</html>