The Recipe For A Strong Front Range Snowstorm
DENVER (CBS4) - Much like you follow a recipe to make your favorite dish, there are certain things that need to come together along Colorado's Front Range to get a big winter snowstorm.
At the surface, we need an area of low pressure somewhere in the vicinity of southeast Colorado.
The counterclockwise winds around the low will help pull in moisture from sources as far away as the Gulf of Mexico and Pacific Ocean.
Those winds also help draw in cold air from the north.
As the winds flow from the east across the plains of Colorado, they eventually hit the Front Range mountains and foothills, and that forces the air to rise.
We call this an upslope flow.
While low pressure to the southeast and cold air from the north are vital, there is one key ingredient that can ultimately determine how weak or strong a developing storm system will be, and that's the jet stream.
The jet stream helps to force the air over Colorado to rise, leading to the formation of clouds and eventually snow.
When a big snowstorm hits Colorado, you often hear them referred to as blizzards, but not all storms qualify as a blizzard.
A blizzard has nothing to do with the intensity of snow, but more the wind.
If the wind is strong enough during a snowstorm to reduce the visibility to less than a quarter-mile for more than three hours, then it is classified as a blizzard.
Some of the most memorable Front Range snowstorms that were classified as blizzards include Christmas 1982, October 1997, March 2003 and December 2006.
While each winter storm that crosses Colorado leaves its own footprint, they all have something in common.
Each one involves an area of low pressure somewhere in the vicinity of southeast Colorado, cold air moving down from the north and a strong jet stream passing overhead.
But how each of these elements comes together are always unique and keeps us forecasters on our toes.
