Click here for Winter Park and Mary Jane Snow
Report.Scroll way down the page to see all of the recent
images.
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»»» link focusing on Grand Lake from the National Weather Service.
»»» loop video from satellite giving you the Big Picture.
»»» loop
video
color-enhanced
to
show
Water:
the staff of life.
Click here for Winter Park and Mary Jane Snow
Report.
Click here for snow depths at all of Colorado's
Ski Resorts.
Sunrise on
Wednesday, January 25, 2012: fresh snow and clouds
indicating that more snow is on the way (Red sky in morning,
sailor's warning).
More snow has come ... not a ton ... yet a few inches almost each
day lately to keep everything fresh.
This photo taken on January 17, 2012 shows that in protected and
shaded areas, we still have lots of snow.
Click on a photo to tour the home.
Saturday, January
7, 2012: fresh snow returns ....
... we knew it would come ... the Pacific Ocean had not moved ...
and thankfully more is on the way.
The Weather Channel today showed video of snow enthusiasts doing a
snow dance
at Sol Vista by Granby Ranch. A big part of the pleasure of living
in Grand Lake in
the winter is the fresh snow that graces the trees every few days.
We have been
in a bit of a dry spell and are happy to have our glistening
landscape back.
Thursday eve, January 5, 2012: helipad at the new Middle Park Medical Center. The
high clouds over the Continental Divide are giving some promise of
snow coming.
December, 2011: trees frosted from mists over Lake Granby. Scroll
down to see more to the right. Click on photo to visit a cabin
with almost this view.
Click on photo to visit a cabin overlooking Lake Granby near here.
Click on photo to visit a home for sale near here.
First ice on Shadow Mountain Lake: November 17, 2011. Click on
photo to visit the home with this setting. Scroll down to pan to
the right.
The lake iced over about a week earlier than usual this year,
perhaps do to the cool clear nights. It's mirror-like finish will
last only until
the next snowfall. Try to see it at dawn or sunset.
First ice over on Shadow Mountain Lake: November 17, 2011. Click
on photo to visit the home with this view down the lake to Byers
Peak.
Needless to say, it is not safe yet to venture onto the lake. Even
in the middle of January, there is open water on parts of the lake
because
water is being pumped up from Lake Granby in Shadow Mountain Lake.
It then flows through the channel that never freezes and flows
into Grand Lake, where there is another open water area, all
winter long. From Grand Lake, the water flows through an
artificial hole
and tunnel all the way down to Estes Park and lower reservoirs for
thirsty users on the Great Plains.
Thursday morning, November 10, 2011: high clouds like this
over the Continental Divide are early indicators of snow
coming.
Scroll down for more views.
We have our own channel now to bring
Grand Lake to you.
.....
Sun & Moon for Saturday, January
28, 2012:
First hint of dawn at 6:47 am
Sunrise: 7:16 am. Sunset: 5:17 pm
Last hint of twilight and alpenglow at 5:46 pm
Moon: waxing crescent setting at 10:10 pm
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Grand Lake Village is about 8400' high (2570 meters).
The lake surface is kept at 8369'; homes a few miles away can be
several hundred feet higher.
Latitude = 40.25° North; Longitude = 105.85º West.
The best prognosticator of our weather is the serpentine Jet
Stream.
A huge amount of moisture is carried in this lofty stream. When it
is
flows over Colorado, we get lots of rain and snow. Often a high
pressure
dome in Utah causes the jet stream to arch far to the north of
Colorado.
Our precipitation (if any) is then quick (with rain and rainbows)
and
concentrated around our higher ridges and peaks. Climate models
for the
northern Colorado Mountains are remarkably uncertain. There is a
well
understood branch of the jet stream through Montana and
Yellowstone
National Park in northern Wyoming. There is also a predictable
branch
through Arizona and southern Colorado. We are between these
branches
and in a very difficult to predict area. Our weather is often the
inverse of
what is occurring in Denver and Boulder; media reports on Colorado
are
often quite misleading for Grand County.
For our high and rugged setting, our weather is remarkably sunny.
We have
deep, verdant forests and enough snow in the winter to give Winter
Park,
Colorado the highest ten year average for snow among all of
Colorado's ski
resorts. How do we manage to sneak in enough rain and snow to fill
our lakes
and water our forests and yet provide hundreds of beautiful days
for relaxing,
skiing and snowmobiling? The key is our unique location on the
west slope of
the Continental Divide where it projects further to the east than
anywhere else
in North America. Arapaho Peak defines this eastern most
projection.
The weather station generating our graphs is in a forested
setting
8550' high. The anemometer for measuring wind speeds is set
fairly high,
but is moderated by its surrounding forest. Wind gusts on the
lakes
(or on a ski slope) can be much higher than what we experience
in the forests.
Selected instrument readings are shown depending on which
parameters have
recently given interesting variations. Fluctuations in the
yellow solar radiation
graph are caused by passing clouds. As data is accumulated, we
will provide
pages giving monthly and annual trends. Our data collection
began near the
end of July of the year 2000.
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