How to Place an Obituary

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After your loved one passes away, you have so many contractual details to deal with, like home, finances, burial and funeral arrangements, the last thing you want to think about is placing an obituary in your local paper, but doing so is very important. A published obituary can be used in many cases with insurance companies and creditors to help prove the official death of a loved one, as well as letting all of your neighbors, friends and loved ones know of the passing in an efficient manner.

Although this may seem like an insurmountable task, The Mountain-Ear can help. We have a simple form to help you get started. We can put it all together into a story format for you. The cost to place an obituary is $25. That includes a photo and 750 words. Need an extended obituary? No problem. We can do that too. We can help make the process as simple as possible, for you and your family. To get your forms, more information and to see examples of published obituaries, please email publisher@themountainear.com.

Too dry, too warm, too windy leads to tragic fire on the plains

December 2021



MARSHALL FIRE PHOTO BY ERIC ABRAMSON, NFPD

MARSHALL FIRE PHOTO BY ERIC ABRAMSON, NFPD

December 2021: After six months of below normal precipitation, warmer than normal temperatures, and many windy days it seemed likely that something bad was going to happen. Usually you would expect this in the mountains, in the warmer months, not December. But this year we had no mitigating snow cover down below. Add to that a 100+mph wind event and a trigger either accidental or intentional. The result: a rapidly growing and moving firestorm that destroyed up to 1000 homes in Superior, Louisville, and other communities in Boulder county. The magnitude of this boggles the mind.

A similar event in Nederland could destroy the entire town. Unfortunately, events of this kind will become more common all along the I-25 corridor in coming years.

Temperature: Warm temperatures were again common throughout the month. Average high was 39F, with an average low of 24F. These averaged out to 6 degrees above normal. Highest high was 61F on the 2nd; lowest high was 23F on the 28th. Coldest day was 7F on the 6th. It is very rare to go through December without a below-zero day.

Precipitation: Total for the month was 1.23 inches from 13 inches of snow. Normals are 1.0 liquid, and 17 inches, respectively. Most of the snow was due to the storm on New Year’s Eve. Until then we were well below normal. Total was 9 inches, top event for December.

Winds: With frequent, strong upper level disturbances in west-northwest flow we had 18 windy days with 8 of these at 60+ mph. Both of these stats were well above normal. On the day of the fire my winds were only 50mph compared to the measured winds of 100 +mph on the plains.

Other Features: Over the last few years we have seen a surprising reduction of cold, Arctic high pressure centers moving into Colorado. These systems are one source of upslope flow that brings in substantial snow amounts. When these are absent our snow events are fleeting, bringing over-the-Divide showers of a few inches or less. Intense Arctic highs form in areas with the lowest temperatures. The fact that the Arctic is warming at significant rates may be reducing the frequency of these critical features.

Outlook for January : Welcome to our coldest month. A typical January day has a high of 35F and a low of 15F. We get 0.9 inches of liquid from 16 inches of snow. Fourteen days are windy. The long range models indicate continued northwest flow with many wind storms. There could be some snow showers on the 6th and the 9th. Beyond that we’re looking at way above normal temperatures and extreme dryness.

Summary of 2021

Acrazy year with wetter than normal conditions in the first six months and very dry and warm conditions in the last six months. Yearly mean was 43.3 F about 2.6 degrees above normal. There has been a steady rise in the yearly mean over the last 10 years. Wild fires were frequent in the summer with many smokey days. Precipitation for the year totaled 20.3 inches about 1 inch below normal. It was very wet from February through May accounting for 11 inches of the total. Snow ended up at 175 inches most of which fell from February through April. This was 25 inches above normal. Biggest month was March with 57 inches. There were 81 windy (40+mph) days. Eighteen days had winds over 60mph capable of producing damage. Welcome to Nederland!