December 2024 Skyview Weather Monthly Newsletter

WEATHER ALARMS ARE HERE!

Skyview Weather is excited to announce the latest feature in the Skyview Weather app: Weather Alarms!

With this new feature, Skyview clientele will be able to create alarms that will automatically send a notification to their Skyview app when certain conditions at their location are met. The process will be simple:

Step 1: Create the alarm and select your desired location.

Step 2: Ensure that the alarm is on. As of now, the alarm must be manually enabled when created, but we are open to feedback on this step.

Step 3: Set your desired conditions for the alarm under the “+ADD RULE” button. This will open a menu where you can create thresholds for cloud cover, dew point, temperature, wind chill, wind gust speed, and wind speed.

Step 4: Save the alarm! Your alarm will now be active and will trigger when the conditions are met and send you a push notification in the Skyview Weather app.

Multiple rules can be created for each alarm! For example, if you are looking to receive a notification whenever the temperature is above 75 degrees and the winds are less than 5mph in Castle Rock, the Weather Alarms feature can do that! Simply add another rule to the alarm while creating it.

Single alarms can also be created for multiple locations! For example, if you are presiding over locations in Boulder, Longmont, and Fort Collins, and want to create an alarm to know when the temperature drops below 32° at each location, the alarm will send you separate notifications. If it’s 31° in Fort Collins but 36° in Longmont and 38° in Boulder, the alarm will only send a notification specific to Fort Collins.

We are extremely excited to roll out this new product for our Skyview clientele, and we hope you are too! If interested in adding this product to the app for your organization, please reach out to us for more information and we will get your organization set up with this new feature for a flat fee of $25/month, billed annually. We are also more than happy to answer all the questions you may have about the Weather Alarms feature.

Once set up, please do not hesitate to share feedback with us on this new feature so we can ensure full satisfaction with the Skyview Weather experience!

Colorado Drought Update

The early November major snowstorm provided significant drought relief across much of Colorado, especially the eastern plains, which had experienced varying levels of concerning drought prior to the storm. Thanks to that system and the next few lower impact storms that passed through during November relieved much of the western mountains of drought conditions, outside of the Yampa River basin in northwest Colorado. Unfavorable upslope conditions during the recent storms limited precipitation in the northern I-25 corridor, and the cities of Longmont and Fort Collins remain under extreme drought conditions.

December 2024 Temperature Anomaly Forecast

The Climate Prediction Center (CPC) has issued an outlook for December indicating that warm conditions are likely in store for Colorado this month. A strong ridge, currently in place, is set to remain relatively stationary over the western US until the arrival of our next storm system at the beginning of December’s second week, which would support above average temperatures. Long-range forecasting models support the CPC’s claims, indicating that a few storm systems during the middle of the month will be followed by generally warm weather during the holidays. Generally, warmer weather over the west allows for cooler air to be transported southeast from central Canada to the eastern US, which is why the CPC is anticipating a cool December for the northeastern US.

December 2024 Precipitation Anomaly Forecast

Southern California, also indicated to likely be much warmer than usual this December, looks to be the worst victim of the ridge discussed in the temperature outlook section, leading to a warm, dry month for the southern portion of the Colrado River Basin. Most of the country otherwise appears to be in for a relatively normal December for precipitation, with the exception of the slopes of the Montanan Rockies, and the lake effect snowfall-prone areas on the windward sides of the Great Lakes.

Weather Summary for Colorado, November 2024

Here’s the thing about the atmosphere: it’s always seeking to balance itself, like most things in nature. It’s in a constant state of “what goes up, must come back down.”  Unfortunately for Denver and much of the Colorado Front Range, what came back down after one of the hottest Octobers in recorded history was a monster snowfall, the likes of which many areas of Colorado had never seen since weather records began nearly 150 years ago. Especially in the month of November. The Sangre de Cristo mountains, Trinidad/Raton Mesa region, and parts of Elbert and Lincoln counties accrued 3-4 feet worth of snow over the course of November 5^th-9^th, with over a foot recorded for much of the I-25 corridor south of I-70. It was quite an impressive event, and snowpack on the eastern plains from that system would remain on the ground for the remainder of the month.

After that major storm, the remainder of the month remained relatively normal, with a few relatively inconsequential snowfalls along the I-25 corridor and mild weather that led to a temperature average just 1.2° below the climatological normal. In the week leading up to Thanksgiving, a potently moist storm system made its way across the Intermountain West and battered the Colorado mountains with multiple feet of snowfall at the highest elevations, but downsloping winds on the eastern side of the Continental Divide limited this event to a moderate snowfall along the I-25 corridor.

Weather Statistics for Denver International Airport (DIA), November 2024

DIA Temperature (°F), November 2024

DIA Liquid Precipitation (Inches), November 2024

2024 Snowfall Accumulation for the Colorado Eastern Plains

December 2024 Preview

Heading into what is climatologically Denver’s coldest month, there aren’t many signals of significant weather events on the horizon. Most of the long-range forecast models are hinting at an active middle portion of the month, beginning with the month’s first snowstorm coming into town next Monday. Another system appears likely not long after, before a bit of a longer stretch of mild weather for the holidays and a potential for colder weather around New Year’s.

December is also typically Denver’s driest month, with the average of 0.35” coming in just drier than the January average of 0.38”. Based on all indications from global atmospheric patterns and long-range forecast models, there’s not much to indicate that this December will deviate much from that low total. Of course, if one of these mid-month systems taps into moisture from the Gulf of Mexico, we’ll see an increase from that monthly average, and the devil will be in the details until they pass.  

December Climatology for Denver

(Normal Period 1991-2020 Dia Data)