Denver - the blizzard has begun!

[gkainz]

KDEN 201519Z 36023G28KT 1/4SM R35L/1400V1800FT SN BLSN FZFG VV002 M04/M06 A2992 RMK AO2 PK WND 35031/1456 TWR VIS 1/4 P0001 $

KDEN 201452Z 201512 35021G37KT 1/4SM +SN BLSN VV002


KBJC 201510Z 36020G25KT 3/4SM -SN OVC003 M02/M03 A2994

KBJC 201452Z 201512 36018G30KT 3/4SM -SN BR OVC005
FM1600 35020G30KT 1/4SM +SN BLSN VV002


Vis out my home office window just dropped to less than 100' and wind is 30G40

 

[fgcason]

Up against the foothills in Golden it's 25F. There is about 8" with drifts to a foot. Snow is coming down sideways. Vis about 1/4-1/3 mile depending on gusts.
Roads are 3-6" and fun with low friction, hills, tire tracks and 20+kt crosswinds. (not overly bad but drivers out there make it a stay home day)

24 hours more from the looks of it.

 

[Dave Krall CFII]

Up against the foothills in Golden it's 25F. There is about 8" with drifts to a foot. Snow is coming down sideways. Vis about 1/4-1/3 mile depending on gusts.
Roads are 3-6" and fun with low friction, hills, tire tracks and 20+kt crosswinds. (not overly bad but drivers out there make it a stay home day)

24 hours more from the looks of it.

Sounds like with the snowy WX you'll have extra time to study your A&P stuff Frank. How's that program going for you?

 

[fgcason]

Sounds like with the snowy WX you'll have extra time to study your A&P stuff Frank. How's that program going for you?

No books yet but plenty of other stuff to do at the moment. It looks like A&P school will be in NW Colorado. I'm likely to move within a month. School starts asap after that..most likely this autumn.

I'm living 24/7/365 in a RV right now. (It's The Good Life) DEN area is to verify all onboard systems are running and reliable before moving further. It's ready as of about a week ago.

Snow is pushing a foot now. Yay. But this weather is all my fault. My motorcycle is ready for some adventure rides so obviously that means snow up to the eyeballs...

 

[gkainz]

the view from my window (camera phone, so sorry for the poor quality)

Edit- photo now attached, but the blank white box here just about sums it up!

 

[Speed]

Pic of one of very few flights that got in this morning... I got to go to the deice pad, and back to the gate. And latest shot out my window. I couldn't leave now if I wanted to. People are parking their cars everywhere!

 

[gkainz]

Just heard the news say that DIA is now closed.

 

[SkyHog]

Amazing, you guys know how to take a good Albuquerque storm, and make it 10 times worse. The stuff you're getting now was the stuff we got yesterday, but you guys upped it by about 10 degrees.

 

[fgcason]

Temp; 23F. Wind; breezy (approx 25G40). Thunder and lightning snow. 6-8" with drifts 12-16". Snow is currently near horizontal. Expecting another 18-24 hours of this.

A few pictures of base camp: (the snow isn't too deep on the windblown high point where I'm at but 15ft away it's up to 18" in places)
#1: base camp and the neighbors puppy motoring along in the snow
#2: freeze up starting (note the snow cornice at the top of the ladder)
#3: fast car or blowing snow? Anything that's not 4WD is snowed into their parking places with 18-24" drifts/plow mess. (and yes, the neighbor and her dog actually live in that ancient 12ft camper)

 

[gkainz]

The (in)famous "upslope" storm ... weather pattern swirls moisture up from the gulf from SE to NW, piles up against the mountains and then stalls, dumping everything it's got all along the eastern slope of the Rockies. Charging the camera battery for a few pics, but if you look at a sheet of typing paper, that's about my view out the window right now...

 

[Dave Krall CFII]

No books yet but plenty of other stuff to do at the moment. It looks like A&P school will be in NW Colorado. I'm likely to move within a month. School starts asap after that..most likely this autumn.

I'm living 24/7/365 in a RV right now. (It's The Good Life) DEN area is to verify all onboard systems are running and reliable before moving further. It's ready as of about a week ago.

Snow is pushing a foot now. Yay. But this weather is all my fault. My motorcycle is ready for some adventure rides so obviously that means snow up to the eyeballs...

Motorhomes are so cool when you're in a great outdoors place like you are. I had a small one with all the amenities chassis mounted on a 1 ton dually F350 4X4 with low gear tranny. It plowed through the brushed in forest roads to the top of every backwoods road in these PacNW parts and also through the pumice fields up to the lava dome on St Helens with it, many of the best years & times of my life. Enjoy yours & be safe!

 

[gkainz]

My view "out" my window

drifts on the back porch

 

[fgcason]

Motorhomes are so cool when you're in a great outdoors place like you are. I had a small one with all the amenities chassis mounted on a 1 ton dually F350 4X4 with low gear tranny. It plowed through the brushed in forest roads to the top of every backwoods road in these PacNW parts and also through the pumice fields up to the lava dome on St Helens with it, many of the best years & times of my life. Enjoy yours & be safe!

These things are great. I don't know why I lived in those ratholes (aka apartments) for so long. This is a 27ft and fully self contained with a 460 engine that will pull all day long. I bet it can pull my jeep without a problem. Moving is one cable and two hoses then start the engine and drive off! It's going to be home for at least 2 years and probably 3 before I build a cabin. (my advice to anyone living in apartments, buy an RV and get out of the money sucking ratholes) This is the good life.


I cleared the snow off out by the step about an hour ago. It already has 4" more in the hole I dug and my footie prints are gone. The windows are frosty/wet so I squeegeed them off..and the view didn't improve much..so I opened the door and peeked out..it still didn't improve much.

Denver is shutting down. The entire Front Range and Eastern Plains are gonners:
http://www.cotrip.org/rWeather/All_Alerts_122006_155958.html
Other places to the west aren't doing so great either:
http://www.cotrip.org/rWeather/All_Regions_122006_155958.html

Eastern Colorado today: Stay home cause you're not going anywhere anyway.

 

[Everskyward]

I got to go to the deice pad, and back to the gate.

We didn't even get the engines started, in fact we didn't even come out of the hangar, and that was early this morning.

So the cats and I are snowed in, which is better than being snowed out...

 

[Dave Siciliano]

I didn't realize the stuff moving north in east Texas is circling around and coming down over there! Wow, what a system! We're getting a bunch of rain, it's pushing up north and coming down there as snow. Don't recall seeing anything like this.

Best,

Dave

 

[gkainz]

Frank, I've got an '83 Tioga 27' Ford E-350 460 and pull my Jeep Wrangler up to Rabbit Ears with it for hunting trips. Pulls it nicely...

 

[fgcason]

Frank, I've got an '83 Tioga 27' Ford E-350 460 and pull my Jeep Wrangler up to Rabbit Ears with it for hunting trips. Pulls it nicely...

Hmmm. This thing should be able to pull my jeep easily then.

Current conditions: 22F, continous high winds, another foot of snow in the last couple hours and 1.5+ft accumulation. They recruited a front end loader to try to dig out the RV park since the truck with a plow couldn't do it. (heavy snow) They front end loader is having a load of fun trying to move the 24"+ of snow that's on the rows.

Off to go dig a friend back into her camper in exchange for a hot meal...

 

[Tom-D]

My view "out" my window

drifts on the back porch

BRRRRRRRRRRRRR

I'll take the wind and rain any day..

 

[gkainz]

I'll snap those same pics tomorrow morning. The drifts are about double that size at 10 pm ...

weather is currently clear and still....

...clear up to my butt and still comin' down!!!

 

[Anthony]

Greg, what's the total accumulation? Wish I were there to "enjoy" the snow. Hit the slopes!!!

 

[Diana]

Just talked to my son who is stuck in Albuquerque trying to get home to Denver. He re-booked a flight into Denver scheduled to land tomorrow at 5:00 p.m. He also rented a car hoping to drive to Denver, but it looks like the roads are closed. Those of you who know the area, what are the odds of his getting home in the next day or two?

Greg, are you still on crutches?

 

[gkainz]

Diana, from what we just heard this morning, the odds of your son making it to Denver in the next couple of days looks slim. DIA announced it's closed until "perhaps" sometime tomorrow. Roads "may" be open and driveable later this evening if the storm behaves as predicted and moves NE later today.

I'm "supposed" to still be on crutches until Wednesday next week when I get new xrays, but I have a surgical boot that I can hobble around in if I don't put too much pressure on the ball.

Anthony, we have about 36" on the flats here in Golden/Arvada, with drifts 4 to 6 ft in areas. It's still snowing, with 6-12" more predicted today.

Here's today's shot of the driveway

More photos at photobucket.com

 

[fgcason]

Happy Solstice Day!

Last night I cleared the snow off outside my door that's 24" AGL. This morning I opened the door and scraped snow. That's in addition to the 18" that I cleared last night in the same location. Local drifts are over waist deep.

Today's plan: Snowhike. Play with the dog in the snow (it's over his head) and help neighbors dig out. Driving, yea right, forgetaboutit. 4WD trucks can't even get out of here right now.

 

[jkaduk]

I may need to get to Greeley on Friday. Any chance of that happening?

 

[gkainz]

I may need to get to Greeley on Friday. Any chance of that happening?

To Greeley from where, John? Should be able to drive there from Denver area by Friday (actually, it's looking like the main highways are moving ok - neighbor's kid just came down from Conifer and said that the freeways all have at least 1 lane clear, some have 2 that are driveable). DIA status is still "closed until further notice". They're hoping to start moving some planes by Friday is the latest I've heard.

 

[jkaduk]

To Greeley from where, John?

From San Diego in our Bo.

 

[gkainz]

I'm thinking that Friday to Greeley might not be too bad (altho there is another weather system moving in on Friday from the Pacific with snow in the forecast). But, the sun's decided to come out and shine for us here in the last hour or so, and the sky is brilliant blue again.

I tried calling Harris at GXY and nobody's answering the phone out there...don't know if the field is open today or not. AWOS doesn't look bad right now over there, and the wind's subsided a lot, so if they're plowing the runways, they have a good chance of keeping them open.

In the event GXY is not open tomorrow, BJC is open and the roads should be passible to Greeley by tomorrow.

Edit: Just talked to someone else on the field - GXY is still NOTAM'd closed, but they're plowing right now and anticipate opening soon. Tomorrow should be fine at the field, but can't speak to the weather between San Diego and here.

 

[jkaduk]

Thanks for the info.