There's Snow and Then, There's Snow

3 February 2012
6:22 PM

Sunrise at	9:31 AM	in direction	130°	Southeast
Sunset at	4:39 PM	in direction	231°	Southwest

Duration of day: 7 hours, 8 minutes (6 minutes, 44 seconds longer than yesterday)

Folks shouldn't be surprised that different snow conditions exist around the country, creating far different perceptions of what life in snow is all about.  In general, for example, snow in the east of the 48 contiguous states is more moisture laden, creating icy conditions for driving and skiing.  And, in general, the west is drier providing the powdery conditions which are the hallmark of the Rockies along the Continental Divide.

Colorado is a relatively small state, but it happens to be situated right on the Continental Divide so two very different snow weather patterns can affect the residents.  Right now, there is a huge amount of snow that fell very quickly along the Front Range and plains.  That type of storm system is known as an Up Slope.  The cold arctic air from the north meets the warm, moisture laden air from the Gulf and circles back into the mountains where it dumps its snow ... bam-o, lots of deep snow generating havoc along the Front Range and all points east.  A woman in Boulder explained this to me a long time ago telling me you could tell it was an Up Slope and you needed to prepare for the worst when you could smell the turkey plants from Longmont.

Storms coming from the west can be just as powerful, but the storm dumps snow on the western slope of Colorado as the clouds are forced to rise over the Continental Divide.  The eastern slope and Front Range, receive less moisture, and the storm will focus again on the eastern border in the plains as the clouds lower once more.

Alaska, if super-imposed upon the 48 contiguous states, would extend from Florida (Southeast Alaska), to beyond California on the west (Bering Sea and Aleutian Range).  From the Kenai and Bristol Bay regions to the Arctic Ocean are roughly the same distance from the Gulf of Mexico to the Canadian border.  Even though the state is at latitudes that would suggest constant snow in all regions, that is not the case.  Southeast will experience snow storms in winter which have melted by the next day.  The maritime climate is more like that of British Columbia.  South Central, which consists of all regions in the South slope of the Alaska Range have deeper snow with relatively moderate temperatures.  Valdez, off the Prince William Sound considers two feet of snow accumulation as a "light" snow.

In the Interior, we have snow accumulation that sticks through the winter, but it accumulates slowly.  In the dry air, it may even evaporate in the humidity to air exchange without melting.  Having moved here from Colorado I impatiently waited for the first "snow" storm.  I waited all winter actually.  Some snow falls appeared to be no more than crystalline flakes as the air turned to ice.  Our storms are usually no more than 1 to 2 inches accumulation and on rare occasions 4 inches.  So, given that we typically see very small, very light snow flakes, I am including a video of today's snow fall.

Actual Flakes!!

And since that went by pretty fast, here is a photo below [it was a small clip because I borrowed my boss's IPhone and I didn't realize I was recording.  He, brilliantly, trimmed out footage of the hallway floor, etc).

Really big snow flakes in Fairbanks, Alaska - a photo worthy event

I've cropped it and increased it's size, so it lost resolution, but you get the idea.