23 March 2016
Snow and Fire In The Plains
Posted by Dan Satterfield
Image from the Denver Police Dept. today.
Denver is getting buried by what may turn out to be a historic spring blizzard. Twenty inches, and it’s still falling. The airport has shut down, and travel is nearly impossible on area roads.
NASA Aqua Satellite image from midday Wed. Note the smoke plumes from large grass fires in KS. Thin cirrus clouds are visible just south of the fires.
The winds are gusting to 55 mph in Denver and the snow is pouring down, while the visibility is not much better than 300 meters. It’s a real high Plains blizzard, and it is bringing Denver to its knees today! Look at the obs from the airport:
From NOAA. BLSN= Blowing Snow. +SN= Heavy Snow. Freezing fog also reported.
Here is the surface map from Midday courtesy of NOAA-
Dan Satterfield has worked as an on air meteorologist for 32 years in Oklahoma, Florida and Alabama. Forecasting weather is Dan's job, but all of Earth Science is his passion. This journal is where Dan writes about things he has too little time for on air. Dan blogs about peer-reviewed Earth science for Junior High level audiences and up.