posted 12-15-2005 08:56 AM         

thought you might like to see this, at least from a different perspective...

..

“If you don’t like Colorado weather,” so the saying goes, “just wait a minute.” Coloradoans had to wait more than a minute, but they did see big changes in the first two weeks of November 2005. After several days with highs of 70 degrees Fahrenheit or higher, Denver’s temperatures plummeted. Changes were more dramatic in the nearby mountains where heavy snow fell.
The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) flying onboard the Terra satellite captured these images on November 15 (top) and November 1 (bottom). On November 1, snow cover remained sparse, but by the middle of the month, snow covered much of the Continental Divide. The sheet of white spread over mountains and spilled out onto the plains to the east. Some clouds obscure the mountains in the November 15 image, but snow cover can still be discerned as it outlines the underlying mountain peaks.
The heavy snowfall was a mixed blessing for Colorado residents, who depend on snowpack for water. According to news reports, a weekend snowstorm on November 12-13, 2005, dropped two feet of snow on ski resorts, and a fresh storm on November 14 added another foot of snow. Good news for ski resorts and skiers turned out to be bad news for travelers and many residents. Poor visibility, numerous accidents, and abandoned cars prompted the Colorado Department of Transportation to temporarily close a 70-mile stretch of Interstate 70, the state’s biggest east-west highway. Downed tree limbs knocked out power lines for as many as 8,000 mountain residents.

posted 12-15-2005 07:20 PM         

Way cool photo...no way is the snow a mixed blessing. Denver/Eastern half of Colorado is a high plains desert. We are TOTALLY dependent on the Rocky Mountains to snag pacific moisture (snow) as storm cells travel from the West to East...

2002 was the most drought prone and forest fire year I can remember. Lake Granby (largest lake in Colorado) was EMPTY in 2003 and this year it is once again FULL.