John McGinley, Peak to Peak.

November 2020: After the horror of last month, we finally had a month that was near normal, much like Novembers of the past. The first week was warm as we continued with upper level ridging. The second week we had the first of two significant storms, not huge but it dropped a good 8 inches. Week three saw a return to warmer than normal. Week four saw another significant snow with 7 inches. For the first time in months we were actually above normal for precipitation.

Precipitation: The first snow was on the 9th and 10th dropping 6 inches and another followed on the 14th with 3 inches. The 24th we had a very wet Pacific snow of 7 inches that had a water content of 0.7 inches, more typical of spring. This brought our water total to 1.42 inches which was 0.3 inches above normal. Snow totaled 17.1 inches, right on normal.

Temperature:  Unlike many Novembers we didn’t see much arctic air with systems mostly coming out of the Pacific. The average high was 44.1F with an average low of 27.2. These combined to make the month 4.9 degrees above normal. The warmest day was 63F on the 3rd. Lowest high was 26F on the 10th. Coldest day was 12F on the 27th.

Winds:  Believe it or not there were fewer windy days than normal with only 6 days at 40+mph and two days with over 60mph.

Other Features: It was nice to see the blocking ridge give way and allow some Pacific storms to move into Colorado. Some of these storms dropped feet of snow on the San Juans.

Outlook for December:   In a typical December we have highs of 35F and 15F for lows. We see 17 inches of snow with 1 inch of liquid. December is a very windy month with 14 windy days and 4 days over 60mph. Our long range weather models predict generally warm and dry in the first couple of weeks. We have the chance for a significant storm on the 11-12th. After the  middle part of the month we will warm up with some very windy and dry conditions returning.