Fall 2000 Vol. 1, No. 4 Table of Contents Climate Memories – a Blizzard Or Two Is Good for You

Colorado Climate Fall 2000 Vol. 1, No. 4 Table of Contents Climate Memories – A Blizzard or Two Is Good for You ............................................................................................ 1 Climate on the Web – Natural Resources Conservation Service ................................................................................. 2 A Time for Time Series – Trends in Observed Solar Energy in Colorado .................................................................. 3 Folklore – Fowl Weather Is Coming ............................................................................................................................. 5 For Teachers – What Can We Learn in the Snow? ....................................................................................................... 6 Colorado Climate in Review ......................................................................................................................................... 8 Colorado June 2000 ................................................................................................................................................................... 8 Climate July 2000 ................................................................................................................................................................... 9 Fall 2000 August 2000 ............................................................................................................................................................ 10 Vol. 1, No. 4 September 2000 ....................................................................................................................................................... 12 Water Year in Review, October 1999 through September 2000 ............................................................................ 13 Can a Megadrought Occur in Colorado? .................................................................................................................... 17 Colorado NDVI Greeness Images ............................................................................................................................... 19 Climate Data at Work – Snow Loads .......................................................................................................................... 20 Cover Photo: Fall Aspen Trees in Southwestern Colorado. Photo by Nolan Doesken. Roger A. Pielke, Sr. Colorado Climate Center Professor and State Climatologist Atmospheric Science Department Fort Collins, CO 80523-1371 Nolan J. Doesken If you have a photo that you would Assistant State Climatologist Phone: (970) 491-8545 like considered for the cover of Colorado Climate, please submit it to Phone and fax: (970) 491-8293 the address at right. Enclose a note describing the contents and circumstances including location and Colorado Climate publication (ISSN 1529-6059) is published four times per year, Winter, Spring, date it was taken. Digital photo- Summer and Fall. Subscription rates are $15.00 for four issues or $7.50 for a single issue. graphs can also be considered. Submit digital imagery via attached The Colorado Climate Center is supported by the Colorado Agricultural Experiment Station files to: [email protected]. through the College of Engineering. Unless otherwise arranged in advanced, photos cannot be returned. Production Staff: Odilia A. P. Bliss and Ann Dummer, Colorado Climate Center Barbara Dennis and Lisa Schmitz, Publications and Printing An earlier publication with the same name, “Colorado Climate,” was published monthly from 1977 through 1996 with the support of the Colorado Agricultural Experiment Station and the Colorado State University College of Engineering. Web: http://ccc.atmos.colostate.edu 22 Colorado Climate Climate Memories – A Blizzard or Two Is Good for You Nolan J. Doesken art of who I am and who you are comes from My parents’ memories were a bit different. My memories and past experiences, both good father recalled sleepless nights as he worried about and bad. There is nothing like witnessing frozen pipes and fire hazards from lamps and candles. P severe weather, be it a quaking thunderstorm, Every hour or two he had to shovel coal into the old a sudden flood, or a howling blizzard, to make us just furnace to keep us from freezing while we children a little stronger, a little wiser, and perhaps a bit more joyfully but naively humble. laughed and played. He I don’t mean to say blizzards are good. Looking remembered the creaks back at past blizzards in Colorado, dozens of people and groans that came from have lost their lives along with hundreds of thousands the roof, especially as the of livestock since European settlers made their way to wind blew. The weight of the Great Plains and Rocky Mountains. Hunters, several inches of ice was a hikers, and skiers sometimes lose their way and burden that he was not occasionally die as blowing snow obscures friendly sure the old house could landmarks. As recently as 1997, several people died in bear. He remembered all the teeth of an October blizzard. the crews of men and their Last year, 1999, we missed an opportunity to trucks working day and commemorate one of the Great Plains’ most memo- night to restore power. My rable blizzards, “The Blizzard of ’49,” on its 50th mother remembered anniversary. Thousands of people in northeast melting ice and snow so Colorado will still be happy to tell you what they we could have water to remember from that incredible storm. It would be drink and cook with. She worth your while to listen to them, too. In Nebraska, remembered scrounging that storm still ranks near the top of the list of most canned goods and relics important news stories of the 20th Century. Books have from the bottom of the been written and even a movie or two has been freezer to keep us all fed. produced that captured and shared some of the intense Then, when the tempera- life-or-death experiences of that early January storm. tures warmed a few days Think about your own life. Can you think of a later but miles and miles blizzard or awesome snow or ice storm that you still of power lines and poles remember like it was yesterday? I recall one blizzard still laid on the ground, and two ice storms from my childhood in central she remembered the big Illinois. Ice storms aren’t a big part of our climate in sale at the grocery store Colorado, but in the Midwest they were nature’s tree where all the meat from (and powerline) pruners. After hours of steady rain the “locker” was distributed before it spoiled. My 1913 snowstorm. Photo falling from leaden clouds, and temperatures of about parents are long gone from this life, but they took courtesy of the Colorado 28°F with gusty northeasterly winds (I paid attention those memories with them to their final days. So Historical Society. to that even as a young child), trees began to bend, will I. sway, and crack. One dared not venture outside no Not all memories need to be of childhood storms. matter how great the urge. Each crack was like a The blizzard of October 1997 is still fresh in my mind gunshot. The lights flickered and then went out. and will be for a long time. I can’t tell you the whole School was cancelled for what seemed to be months story now. We don’t have enough space here. But I’ll (memories are neat, but not always accurate). For my start. sisters and I, it was a wonderful time – playing games, I have always been thrilled by winter storms, but assembling puzzles, telling stories, playing piano, and I hate traveling in them. If at all possible, I pay close singing together. When the sun came out two days attention to weather forecasts and alter my plans if later the landscape was unreal. Natural piles of necessary so that I am safe at home before a big storm jumbled tree branches under each large tree stretched hits. Storms are fun when they can be watched and much higher than my head. My path was blocked in enjoyed from a safe and warm haven. Such was not all directions but the landscape was beautiful beyond the case that autumn night three years ago. My boss, words – glistening like a million diamonds delivered Tom McKee, his wife, Lee, and I were returning to as a gift from heaven. (continued on page 4) Colorado Climate 1 Climate on the Web – Natural Resources Conservation Service Nolan J. Doesken s the autumn months pass and winter sets For many years, the measurements of snow depth in, this is a great time to practice checking and water content from Colorado’s snowiest locations out mountain snowpack levels and were undertaken by teams of snow experts equipped A anticipated water supplies. The Natural with special coring tubes and scales who would visit Resources Conservation Service websites are great special “snow courses” once each month from late places to go. winter through spring. These adventurous folks took measurements on skis, snowshoes, or whatever it took to get them high into the snow accumulation zones of the Rockies. Each month, water planners with their eyes on the mountain snowpack would anxiously await the findings. Things have changed in the world of snow surveying in the past 20 years with the help of SNOTEL (SNOw TELemetry), an automated system for measuring snow water content and radioing the results automatically each day using “meteor burst” communications. Now each of us can track snowpack accumulations pretty much anywhere in the western states all year round from the friendly, warm comforts of our computer desks. Snow depths, water contents, comparisons with average conditions,

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