Late March Blizzard in the Rockies...

The combination of very cold high pressure to the north and low pressure tracking across the southern Rockies produced a major snowstorm that dumped more than two fee of snow across the parts of Colorado and Wyoming on March 26, 2009. The storm resulted in the canceling of hundreds of flights and closing schools. Winds gusted to more than 40 mph creating blowing and drifting snow that caused whiteout conditions at times. The storm wound down and ended on Friday, March 27th.

Some of the higher snowfall totals included:

Eldorado Springs 24.3"
Boulder 22.6"
Crested Butte 22.0"
Golden 21.0"
Genesee 20.5"
Kassler 20.4"

George Wright, Certified Consulting Meteorologist and President of Wright Weather Consulting, Inc. View our web site at WrightWeather.com.

Cool and Stormy Start to the Spring Season...

The next two weeks look quite active with a couple of weekend storms forecast.

For this Sunday, the GFS is indicating that a storm will produce rain across the entire area:










Then a stronger storm is forecast for the first weekend of April:










Through April 10th, there will be a day or two with milder than normal temperatures, however, the overall trend is for near or below normal temperatures for the next two weeks. I would not be surprised to see some wet snowfall in the far northern and western suburbs before the spring is over and maybe a few flakes here in New York City!

George Wright, Certified Consulting Meteorologist and President of Wright Weather Consulting, Inc. View our web site at WrightWeather.com.

Seasonal Snowfall in Central Park for the Past Nine Seasons

The following is a list of seasonaal snowfall in Central Park for the past nine seasons:

2000-01 35.0 in.
2001-02 3.5 in.
2002-03 49.3 in.
2003-04 42.6 in.
2004-05 41.0 in.
2005-06 40.0 in.
2006-07 12.4 in.
2007-08 11.9 in.
2008-09 27.6 in.

George Wright, Certified Consulting Meteorologist and President of Wright Weather Consulting, Inc. View our web site at WrightWeather.com.

No Early Spring in Sight - April Snow?

We say goodbye to Winter 2008-2009 on March 20th at 7:44 a.m. The general weather trend over the next two weeks appears to favor temperatures at or below normal with a few warmer days near 70 degrees late next week. The normal high temperature for late March is in the low to mid 50s in New York City.

In Central Park, a total of 27.6 inches of snow for the season adn this is 6.9 inches above normal. You would not think this winter saw above normal snowfall since there was not many days with snow cover (the snow that fell did not stay on the ground long) and the largest storm did not occur until March 1st and 2nd when 8.3 inches of snow fell.

No major storms are forecast by the computer models for the next two weeks. One model, the GFS is forecasting a couple of brief cold outbreaks with perhaps a chance of a little wet snow especially in the suburbs around March 31st. Also, the same model is indicating that there could be an early April snowfall in the NYC area. Of course this is still several days out and the forecast can change dramatically between now and then. Sometimes a cold spring will produce an accumulating snowfall in the first week of April. Back in April 2003, 4.0 inches of snow fell on April 7th in Central Park!

George Wright, Certified Consulting Meteorologist and President of Wright Weather Consulting, Inc. View our web site at WrightWeather.com.