Categories
Latest Daily Weather Briefing Calendar
Recent weather highlights
Major tornado hits Windsor, CO; 22 May 2008
Some radar reflectivity and velocity closeups showing the remarkably strong mesocyclone and hook echo.
Current vs recent and average Upper CO River Basin snow water equivalent totals. Season through Jan 2008.
First snow of the season in the High Country. Late night/early morning thunderstorms in Boulder but snow on the peaks! View of Breckenridge on 24 Aug 2007.
Snow still left at Diamond Lake, CO
A collection of potentially useful web sites for the DWB
I've arranged these by category, though some sites crossover several categories. Please send me email with any site(s) you'd like to add.
Short-list of some useful newer sites
Collection of links for forecasting for the Hydromet Testbed Winter Exercise.
Climate data and forecasts.
Climate Diagnostics Center homepage.
Interactive map to plot precipitation graphs is available on this CDC Drought
Monitoring page. Scroll down to the section under
"Regional Accumulated Daily Precipitation" and click at a location on the map.
Climate Prediction Center homepage.
Some specific CPC products.
General weather sites with access to models and observations.
General weather sites with access to models and observations.
Hurricane information.
Hurricane information.
Local (Boulder and vicinity) observations.
Local (Boulder and vicinity) observations.
Nice combo of Google Earth satellite and real-time weather station plots, from the Weather Underground. Can select the location to get a map where desired.
GSD MADIS surface plot interface. Can display mesonet and other obs
from all over the CONUS.
National Wind Technology Center mesonet; Can generate plots from here (like 2 m wind speed and gusts). Meteorological tower located at the western edge of the NWTC Site and about 11 km (7 miles) west of Broomfield, and approximately 8 km (5 miles) south of Boulder, Colorado, at an elevation of 6085 feet.
Another site, this one in Golden, Colorado. Site location: New SRRL instrument deck and met tower on top of STM, Golden, Colorado. (see this google map .
National Weather Service websites.
Numerical weather prediction: sites for different NWP runs.
Official NCEP site for access to their
different models, including the Eta to 84h and GFS (old MRF) out to 384 h, updated every 6h!!!! There must
be a 4-corners cutoff in there somewhere!
Ensemble forecasts
Penn State E-wall: Access to different
models and ensembles.
Includes GFS ensemble members for each forecast period OUT TO 384 h. Also access to many other deterministic model runs.
Environment Canada ensemble site. Ensembles from their models as well as the NCEP ensembles for a variety of fields through 360h. Called the "North American Ensemble Forecast System (NAEFS).
NAEFS meteogram forecasts. Many cities to choose from including Denver.
NAEFS collection of all 500 mb ensemble members from the NCEP and Canadian ensemble systems.
LAPS model homepage.
A table format for access to various models run by the FSL LAPS group.
High-resolution models on the near-CONUS scale
NCEP experimental 4 km NMM.
Forecasts out to 36 h.
NCEP experimental 5 km WRF-NMM and WRF-ARW window runs.
Forecasts out to 48 h. Can compare to NAM, many products, regional scales.
NCAR WRF-ARW. Forecasts from 22 km grid WRF through new 3 km version that goes out to
36 h.
Special model runs for the DWFE winter experiment
(WRF runs at 5 km resolution on ~CONUS scale).
Access to different models.
A table format from the Albany WFO providing access to some interesting model sites (some listed
individually below).
Access to old MRF model runs. Access to other runs can be found from
this site.
Canadian models: global spectral model
runs beginning at 0000 UTC (to 144 h) and 1200 UTC (to 72 h).
ECMWF access.
ECMWF from 0 h out to 168 h.
From Texas A&M site, like the Unisys presentation (surface pressure and 500 mb height)
but more! (A 9 panel presentation is available.)
ECMWF access from Unisys weather site.
4-panel plot of sfc P and 500 mb height for 72 h through 144 h.
International model site.
Interesting site with access to various models run all over the world. Examine the Aladin model from
Slovenia! Many more.
European model site.
Great site with loads of model and other (include web cams) info for Europe.
Numerical Model VERIFICATION sites.
Verification for the 12z AVN.
NCEP site with collection of 12z AVN forecasts out to 168 h and initial analyses (for verification) going
back many months.
Verification for the 00z MRF.
Similar site but for the MRF run out to 156 h.
MRF archive.
Impressive archive of MRF forecasts (0h to 132 h or 156 h) dating back to January 1998.
Model verification scores.
NCEP collection of many types of verification scores for different models.
Model biases.
NCEP collection of model biases for different models.
case...threat of closed low for 6 Oct 02:
500 mb AVN 120 h forecast.
sfc/thickness and precip, AVN 120 h forecast.
General world weather sites.
WMO weather site.
Includes info on hurricanes and tropical cyclones and other severe weather around the world.
Fire weather information
Fire weather information
National Fire Weather Incident Site Information on all fires, with access to maps and photos.
Sites where you can get historical weather data (maps, etc.)
Sites where you can get historical weather data (maps, etc.)
A great site from SPC. You can get
analyzed maps for 00z and 12z at the standard levels WITH data, and readable (suitable for publication)
from the current time back to 11/30/98.
CDC historical weather data web site.
An impressive array of possibilities for display of historical data.
Unisys site for historical data.
Preset displays of analyses of certain fields at upper levels (but NOT 500 mb), also surface data
and analyses, and some satellite imagery, back to 1998.
The "Daily Weather Map" ONLINE!
Can go back to Jan 1 2002 at this site.
Historic Daily Weather Map series online.
At this site one can get daily weather maps back to 1871.
NOAA GIBBS (Global ISCCP B1 Browse System) home page.
Amazing historical collection of satellite imagery, global and can be zoomed, dating back to 1983. Easy to navigate via a calendar system.
Individual radars and radar-derived precipitation.
Individual radars and radar-derived precipitation.
NOAA NWS Hydorlogical Prediction Service webpage. Can look at individual river gages on a clickable map.
NWS Precip page. Great page for daily, weekly and monthly estimated precip. Plus much more, with archive capability.
New NSSL Precip page. Great new page for hourly to 3-day estimated precipitation totals.
NWS NPVU homepage. 6-h and 24-h estimated precipitation plots, with an archive.
CPC CONUS 24-h and 7-day precipitation analyses from station data, checked with radar
(note that images are kind of small).
Satellite imagery
Satellite imagery
NOAA GIBBS (Global ISCCP B1 Browse System) home page.
Amazing historical collection of satellite imagery, global and can be zoomed, dating back to 1983. Easy to navigate via a calendar system.
Severe Weather
Severe Weather
SNOW!!!!
SNOW!!!!
Web Cam sites.
Web Cam sites.
DIA web cam. Also others in Denver.
"Weather Matrix" site. Many web cams and weather data.
Nantucket web cam and other Cape Cod sites.
Washington D.C. area traffic cams.
Another Washington D.C. web cam. This one shows snow/ice accumulations in real-time.
...future sites to be added.......
...future sites to be added.......
Collection of saved longrange (30 day and longer) forecasts.
For the 2007-2008 Winter
Official winter outlook issued October, 2007.
Official winter outlook issued November, 2007.
Verification of precip for November 2007. Percent of normal.
Verification of precip for December 2007. Percent of normal.
Verification of precip for November 2007 to January 2008. Percent of normal.
Verification of temperature for November 2007 to January 2008. Departure from normal.
For the 2003 Winter
Official winter outlook, first issued mid-September, 2002.
Hazardous weather outlook for 2 week period covering the blizzard of Feb 2003.
Summer 2000 forecasts (drought/possible drought)
Current drought conditions as of 20 June 2000.
30 & 90 Day forecast issued 15 June 2000, valid for July and July-September 2000.
30 & 90 Day
forecast
issued 13 July 2000, valid for August and August-October 2000.
12 month forecast
issued 15 June 2000, valid through July-September 2001.
Verification:
Fall 2000 & early 2001 forecasts for the winter.
30 & 90 Day forecast
issued 12 October 2000, valid for November and November 2000-January 2001.
Verification of 90-day precipitation (November to January):
total precipitation and
percent of
normal precipitation.
Verification of 90-day temperature (November to January):
average temperature and
departure from normal
temperature.
Verification of November precipitation:
total precipitation and
percent of
normal precipitation.
Verification of November temperature:
Average temperature and
departure from normal temperature.
Verification of December precipitation:
total precipitation and
percent of
normal precipitation.
Verification of December temperature:
average temperature and
departure from normal
temperature.
Verification of January precipitation:
total precipitation and
percent of
normal precipitation.
Verification of January temperature:
average temperature and
departure from normal
temperature.
30 & 90 Day forecast
for precipitation and temperature,
issued 18 January 2001, valid for February and February-April 2001.
Verification of February precipitation:
total precipitation and
percent of
normal precipitation.
Verification of February temperature:
average temperature and
departure from normal
temperature.
12 month precipitation
forecast
issued 12 October 2000, valid through January 2002.
12 month temperature
forecast
issued 12 October 2000, valid through January 2002.
Late winter/spring 2001 forecasts for Spring 2001.
30 & 90 Day forecast
issued 15 February 2001, valid for March and March-May 2001.
Selected saved "shorter-term" forecasts.
Potential first fall snow of 2003....variability in the longrange
-
500mb 300 to 312 h forecasts from Fri/3 Oct at 00z, valid 12z/Wed/15 Oct to 00z/Thu/16 October.
Closed upper level low near CO.
-
500mb 300 h ensemble forecasts from Fri/3 Oct/00z GFS run, valid 12z/Wed/15 Oct.
-
500mb 372 to 384 h forecasts from Fri/3 Oct at 00z, valid 12z/Sat/18 Oct to 00z/Sun/19 October.
Portion of the upper trough hanging back into the Rockies.
-
500mb 384 h ensemble forecasts from Fri/3 Oct/00z GFS run, valid 00z/Sun/19 Oct.
-
500mb 276 to 288 h forecasts from Fri/3 Oct at 12z, valid 00z/Wed/15 Oct to 12z/Wed/15 October.
Just 12h later, the closed upper level low is now an open trough passing across CO.
-
500mb 300 to 336h forecasts from Fri/3 Oct at 12z, valid 00z/Thu/16 Oct to 12z/Fri/17 October.
The open wave then forms a tight cutoff over the South, which merges with a new s/w trof dropping
out of Canada...
-
500mb 372 to 384 h forecasts from Fri/3 Oct at 12z, valid 00z/Sun/19 Oct to 12z/Sun/19 October.
...resulting in a new deep trough in the EAST!
-
***blank for now*** valid 06z to 18z on Wed/ October.
-
***blank for now*** valid 06z to 18z on Wed/ October.
Potential St. Patrick's Day 2003 blizzard
-
500mb forecast from Mon/10 Mar at 18z, valid 06z to 18z on Tue/18 March.
-
500mb forecast from Mon/10 Mar at 18z, valid 06z to 18z on Wed/19 March.
-
GFS forecast from Fri/14 Mar at 12z, valid 12z on Tue/18 March.
October 2001 "blizzard" forecast by the Day 15 MRF....
MRF 348 h 500 mb forecast from Sept 19,
valid 12z/3 Oct01. Big cutoff forecast near CO.
MRF 360 h surface forecast
valid 00z/4 Oct01. Probably cold enough for snow.
Nevermind...the next day's MRF forecast a high amplitude ridge!
500 mb forecast valid valid 00z/4 Oct01.
Surface for 336h forecast.
But wait....a storm is back on this 240 h MRF from 00z/24 Sep, valid
00z/4 Oct 01.
.....though it didn't cutoff... 500 mb valid 00z/5 Oct 01.
Not so fast...the next day its gone again.
9 panel MRF from 00z/25 Sep run.
Other saved items/interesting events.
First snow of the season snow....21 October 2007.
Early season snows in Boulder...how does it happen. Below is a collection of some events from the past.
3 Sep 1961, the earliest measurable snow recorded in Denver. From DEN WFO web site: "THE EARLIEST MEASURABLE
SNOWFALL ON RECORD OCCURRED ON SEPTEMBER 3RD IN 1961 WHEN 4 INCHES OF SNOW
FELL AT THE STAPLETON INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT AND THE TEMPERATURE DROPPED TO
33 DEGREES." Only a trace recorded in Boulder (also a low of 33), but 1.16" of precip. Storm total 1.60".
11-12 September 1974. Earliest >1" snowfall. Boulder obs: 9/11 91/48 0.00;
9/12 54/31 1.10 2.7 0 depth; 9/13 54/38 0.00 0.0 0
June 2007: Unusual intense tropical cyclone (~cat 5) in the Arabian Sea.
Late season snows in Boulder...how does it happen. Below is a collection of some events from the past.
25-26 May 1950: 8.7 inches at BOU.
2-3 June 1951: 2.2 inches at BOU.
13 June 1969: Boulder's latest snowfall. Only a trace, but occurred around noon!
17 May 1983: Wild storm with Blizzard warning on the eastern plains. Boulder received 7.1 inches.
20-21 May 2001: A wild Sunday...temperatures warm into the 70s before a strong cold
front brings snow by late afternoon. DIA actually shuts down for awhile. Boulder received 3.8 inches.
24 May 2002: Most recent late snow. Boulder received 1.1 inches.
Repeat of the last great May Boulder snowstorm?????? A look back....
Early heat on the High Plains....
82 and still climbing at Rapid City on 12 March 07.
Chickens without a home.... A close call on the 88-D in southeast Georgia at KEOX from one of the tornadoes on 1 March.
Big winter storm eastern Colorado to the Midwest...23 to 25 Feb 2007
Pictures from Bill Gallus (U of Iowa at Ames) of the Iowa ice and snow storm.
Southeast Colorado snow cover buries the Granada profiler....
Massive Lake Effect snows in western NY
Tornadoes in Central Florida
Strong tornado(es) in the early morning hours of 2 Feb 2007 in central FL.
Snow in Tuscon, Arizona.
A fairly rare snowfall 21-22 January 2007 in Tuscon and other parts of far southern Arizona and New Mexico. About 2 inches or so in the city of Tuscon, more in the foothills. Some Tuscon pics are shown below.
Bumper cars in Portland, Oregon.
A REALLY white Christmas (and New Year!!!) Three storms in a row hit the area. Great stuff. See the NWS summaries below for more info.
Goodland got a loads of snow as well. Check out this data and photos from the GLD WFO.
Potential big one?
September skiing in Colorado!
Summer 2006 in review
Waterspouts over Lake Erie
Initial conditions at start of hurricane season 2006
March 2006 big Plains snow
NOHRSC snow depth analysis as of 06z/21 March 06. COOP reports showed 25" depth in Central Nebraska.
GFS snowfall forecast by Tue/12z from Thu/12z/16 Mar run (120-h forecast). Big snow was hoped for in Boulder...but the storm came in spurts and never quite lived up to this forecast from the GFS. Turns out maybe this storm was too spread out in time and distance (incredible area of snow east of us by the end) for the big one here.
Model comparison from 16 Mar 12z runs...96 h forecasts valid 12z/Monday/20 March.
EC analysis for 12z/20 March. Note that the storm verifies in the position near the EC but quite a bit weaker, unfortunately. Storm came in 3 parts and the last one didn't quite close off soon enough in the OK Panhandle.
Here is a model comparison from the 12z runs on 14 March. Verification is between the too fast GFS and the too slow European models.
Winter wildfires January 2006
NWS fire weather warnings and watches. Map of the CONUS displayed here from the
NATIONAL FIRE WEATHER PAGE.
Boulder WFO area big snow/rain event: 9-10 October 2005. Images courtesy
of the Boulder WFO.
26 Aug 2005 Hurricane Katrina
Wilma - October 2005
Northeast floods - October 2005
23-24 Apr 2005 MI and OH snowstorm
20 Apr 2005 CO severe weather...DWFE NMM and MDSS forecast validation from 0000 UTC 20 Apr run.
21h forecast valid 21z 20 April
24h forecast valid 00z 21 April
27h forecast valid 03z 21 April
30h forecast valid 06z 21 April
19 Apr 2005 CO severe weather.
Big 10-11 Apr 2005 CO snowstorm.
Crazy weather in Southern California.
Waterspout from nearby ski area, unique picture taken on Monday 21 Feb 2005.
Set of waterspout pictures near the Huntington Beach pier, taken by lifeguard Claude Panis on 20 Feb 2005.
Snow for Christmas????????
GFS forecast 360h for Christmas Day.
GFS forecast 360h for Christmas Day.
GFS forecast 348h for Christmas Day.
GFS forecast 348h for Christmas Day.
GFS ensemble forecast 348h for Christmas Day.
The Great November 2004 Snow???????
DGEX & GFS forecast of storm total snow ending 12z Tue. 174h/180h forecasts.
Late October, 2004: Heavy rains/mountain snows in California.
Waterspout
off Ventura, CA, on Wed/27 Oct.
Heavy snow at Squaw Mountain as of Wed/27 Oct.
2004 Hurricane season
CIMMS site
with some great montage imagery and long loops.
August 24, 2004: Heavy rains in KC to Topeka area.
Rainfall totals
from MKC radar from Mon/23 Aug thru midday Tue/24 Aug.
Rainfall totals
from TOP radar from Mon/23 Aug thru midday Tue/24 Aug.
April (2004) snowstorm.
A big issue...how far north would precip be...some model forecasts:
January (2004) snowstorm.
The mountains get hit!
Arctic air or not?
LAPS radar analyses at:
MM5 forecasts:
Runs from 12z/Fri/2 Jan:
Runs from 18z/Fri/2 Jan:
Runs from 00z/Sat/3 Jan:
Hurricane Isabel...September 2003.
The Newport/Moorehead City WFO has compiled
this web site of Isabel's impacts.
Fascinating photos of coastal erosion are found
here.
NOAA P-3 eyewall photo from
Sept 12th.
Here is a high resolution visible
satellite image
from Sept. 12th.
A complete set of high resolution visible images and loops of other
imagery can be found at
this CIMMS site at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
A closeup of the eye with a 250 m
visible image
from Sept. 12th.
Hurricane Juan....landfall in Halifax, Nova Scotia the night of Sept. 28, 2003.
collection of damage photos.
Tree-trimming May snow...9-10 May 2003 storm.
It's the big one!!! Variations in liquid to snow probably accounted for
the large variations around the area at lower elevations. Huge snow and liquid in the
mountains.
Some pictures from George Grell's house, up Coal Creek Canyon near 9000 ft.
Taken late Wednesday.
Front door.
Snow in London! These pictures (courtesy of my daughter Carrie) taken during the
heaviest London snow in ~10 years (2-3" total) in early January 2003 (Jan 3rd?).
2002 Weather summary for Boulder,
courtesy of Matt Kelsch.
Typhoon hits Guam...December 2002.
1st ski area in U.S. to open....
Loveland becomes the first ski area to open...1 run, 1000' vertical.
Images from 17 Oct 02
"Interesting" record
You know the weather is dull in your area if your record is
this!
Hurricane Lili
Buoy data from near the eye of Lili, for Wed/2 Oct
Buoy data from near the eye of Lili, for Wed/2 Oct
Hurricane Isidore
"Artificial landspout. You too can make your own tornado. Check out this
prescribed burn near North Platte recently. Landspout formed when cu went over the fire. See the text
description here from DDC forecaster Jim Johnson.
Here is a fantastic series of images from a sailboat (during a race off Australia
in January 2002 (I believe) that encountered a severe waterspout, apparently spawned by a supercell storm. Thanks
to Joe Golden for forwarding the images. Joe says that the Doppler radar at Sydney could see mid-level rotation
in this storm at a distance of ~100 km. Here is a text file of the
correspondence to Joe.
What is this????? Apparent waves along an upper-level shear zone on 18-19 Oct 2001,
noticed during the Daily Weather Briefing (by Dennis Rodgers).
A series of water vapor images are shown below:
Other images, most with observations (RAOBS, and/or ACARS). Also other data.
VISIBLE satellite image at 1700 UTC.
There are even waves near the surface (but in the other direction)!
First snow of the season in northern Michigan.
Picture from Gaylord NWS at 9pm 9/25/01.
Tornado outbreak on 16 October 2001.
Overview site: weather conditions, etc.
click here.
A summary of conditions using nearby profilers is found
here.
Photos from chaser Greg Ladue:
click here.
Photos from a local paper are found
here.
Here is a collection
of satellite imagery from CIRA.
Tornados in NE: Saturday 22 Sep severe reports
click here.
Here is
a sounding for the Tornado area.
Update: nice radar image and photo of nighttime T
found here.
Washington DC and Virginia area Tornadoes from Monday Sept 24 2001.
Washington Post photos.
Here is a map of
the T damage and times.
An official storm report from the local WFO is found
here.
Another collection of photos are found
here.
Some photos, radar and other obs from Jon Davies are found
here.
The heat is on....6 July 2001 NE/KS temps.
click here.
A text file of the obs can be found
here.
ND tornadoes from 17 July.
click here.
A text file of the report can be found
here.
T over Mt. Etna?
click here.
Tornadoes in SE Nebraska on 13 June 2001
Large tornado in NW Wisconsin on 13 June 2001
Weather info courtesy of John Davies.
DIA Hailstorm on 20 June 2001
