Sunday, 2/7/2016

Super Sunday turns out to have a double meaning for us…great weather plus the Super Bowl this evening.

First, the weather.  Enjoy today because winter will be rushing back in by tomorrow.  The commonly called “Polar Vortex”  is once again pushing south into eastern North America.  A sharp cold front will arrive tonight and replace the current seasonably warm  conditions with an Arctic blast.  Since the system’s origins precludes any significant amount of moisture, the cold air will only be accompanied by snow flurries and snow showers.  Timing makes a great difference in events like this. Day vs. night makes a big difference.  I discussed this in a Jan.14, 2016 blog…Observations from this week’s snows.  Check it out.

Here’s how the current situation is shaping up… cold air arrives late tonight along with a 30%  chance for rain showers.  It’ll take several hours, probably between 8-10 A.M., for the air to become cold enough to support snow rather than rain showers.  Periods of light snow likely during the afternoon with up to a half-inch on grassy areas.  Roads remain wet, but possibly a few slick spots on bridges and overpasses toward evening.

Monday night looks like the best  chance for accumulating snow from this system.  Cold air will be firmly entrenched, still some residual moisture will be around and an upper air pocket of energy looks as though it’ll fly overhead.  The result should be some light snow and some snow showers.  Most of us should see .5″ to 1.5″ by Tuesday morning. Some areas will probably see some heavier snow showers putting down as much as 2″-3″, but they should be pretty scattered.

By Tuesday, we’ll still have plenty of cold air (20’s for highs),  but there won’t be much moisture or upper support left.  So, snow flurries will continue, but little (or no) accumulation is expected.

Although this won’t be much of a snowstorm, there’s still the potential for some major road problems from early Tuesday through Tuesday morning.

Super Bowl

I’ve only attended one professional football regular season game in my life.  It was at Mile High Stadium back in the late 1960’s and featured Denver winning over the Buffalo Bills. I think the score was 17-14. I’ve had a warm spot for the Broncos in my hearts ever since.  But, trying to look objectively at today’s game, I think the Denver Super Bowl mystique will continue.  Denver has been in seven Super Bowls but has won only two.  The average winning margin of those games has been over 20 points.  All but one game have been blowouts, The Broncos have been on the losing end of a blowout five times.  Today looks like it’ll be #6.  (Sorry, Broncs and my sympathies go to Kent Taylor…a HUGE Broncos fan!)