Public Information Statement
Snow, Flood, Cam Reports
(posted by Keno on Monday, November 6 at 344 am)
There's really too much to cover here, and it looks like I wrote up yet another mumble jumble here again! But if you know me at all, I write as I do and make no excuses for how it ends up! I'll try to keep this short, but then again, heck, I won't! I'm an old man in my 70s, I should be retired from doing any real work. Yet I've been doing volunteer work for the National Weather Service (NWS) since I was a kid growing up in NYC back in the 1960s. I've been reporting for them here in Colorado since after I finished high school and moved out west. But since I've lived in Colorado, in the towns of Manitou Springs, Telluride and now for around 24 years here in Crestone, I don't think I've seen a month's worth of rain as I (and you) seen in southern Colorado in the last 30 or so days. So that's what I'll write about here, starting off with the Snow Report for what should have been posted here yesterday morning, not this morning, but being a bit late with things is how this old man now operates, unlike the man I was for most of my life when I was always on time.
To say the least, this snow report is very limited in info on yesterday's snowfall. Part of the reason being that while it snowed for several hours, the temperatures here at the Crestone-Baca Weather station were above or at freezing in the early morning hours when it was snowing. I guess I can also note that only one spotter reported in, as my friend Paul, who reports from the very top of the Baca, at 8,560 feet, reported 1.5 inches of snow on the ground yesterday morning. I should note that Paul has been a spotter here in the Baca for a lot longer than I have - as he's been living in this area for years before I moved here, so I thank him for being a spotter for me, you and the NWS for longer than anybody in this area has. At my place, I, the lifelong night owl, was up for the entire nite/morning on Thursday and we had 0.1 of an inch of snow on the ground just before 3 am. It snowed for several hours, first as a mix late nite Wednesday before midnight, then, just after midnight, it turned to all snow and stopped just after 3am. Reason for so little snow was because the temp was around freezing and above most of that time. By 4 am or so, we had more of a white glaze on the ground than real snow in the areas where it hadn't melted yet. By mid morning I noticed just a bit of snow left on my deck, but only in spots. So, those were the only 2 local reports from our area I have to report and I've been asked if I would even write up snow reports for this new snow season or not. Well I'll get to that below in a second, but first, I have one last report from up high, from the automated weather station above town at South Colony, located east of town in our main mountains at around 10,800 feet. The nightly report that came in from up there this morning at midnight, reported 1.0" of new snow falling Thursday morning before dawn. The snowpack at the station is 11.0". Do understand that these automated stations are never that accurate and are known to miss a lot of the snow that falls, especially if the wind is blowing - and up there the wind blows a lot more than it does down here. But of course, nobody lives up there either, so this is all we have to go by.
Now, I've been asked if I would be writing up snow reports again this season, here at keno.org, as I've been doing so for well over 20 years now. My answer will have to be both yes and no. I'm not going to lie to you, and those close enough to me know that my health in old age is getting in my way of my doing most things. Yes, I can still write things up clear enough, but if you take the daily weather report as an example - for the normal 5 day report with no big weather events happening, it used to take me around 20 minutes to set a forecast and then type up and place it all online. The same thing today takes me about an hour, and to be honest, I rely a lot on the NWS's forecast today than making up my own report like I used to do up until last year. I noted here last year, that's it's becoming harder for me to do this work 7 days a week anymore. I don't have to tell you that if a job is fun to perform, then it's not work at all. That was the case for me with being the weatherman. I've loved this work for my entire life - but I'm not a kid anymore, or even middle age, I'm a senior citizen, what else can I say, and most seniors my age are long retired. I'm retired from most things other than still running a few last web sites on this domain, including this Crestone Weather station, and for the most part, 2 or 3 of my web cam sites.
No, I didn't put out the yearly notice for new snow spotters for our new snow season that usually appears each October. While I still plan to report most snow events this season (I hope) and welcome anybody who wishes to send in reports, well, let's just say that most of us humans, once we hit our septuagenarian years, don't really make long time plans. You really do just live day to day when you're older, and are happy when each new day starts out for you, since noting is guarantee in life once you are elderly. Plus yes, I know that the term "elderly", or even "senior citizen", is generally no longer considered acceptable or polite to use anymore. Well, it don't bug me being called that, and I don't really give a damn anymore what others may think! Look, I realize that many of my fellow seniors hate being called that, but I don't care, I am what I am. I never been one to be a fake like some folks (of all ages) are. I'm also sick of the other generations putting down Boomers, too! Boomers were perhaps the only generation that was totally put down when we were young by our parents' generation, and now today, we're put down by our kids and grandkids generation! Well, I'm sick of a lifetime of putdowns from the other generations! Our parents generation is now long dead and us Boomers are now the ones dying out. It's a normal thing and a big deal shouldn't be made of it either way. But to anybody who doesn't dig Boomers, well that's your problem, and since I'm a Boomer, if you don't like me or my kind, then I suggest that perhaps you get your weather reports elsewhere. But better yet, why don't you just stop your hating? If you're lucky (or unlucky), you'll be a senior (or whatever you want to call this age group) one day, too, and maybe understand why this angers me and others my age.
Okay, now that I went totally off subject there, where was I? Yes, the snow reports. I plan on still running them - but, they might be late sometimes, like this one was. I'll also note than I'm down to around just 5 spotters. At least that's where I think I'm at now and again, while the noticed didn't go out this year for new spotters, if you want to join us, please drop me a line and I'll get back to you and welcome your report, as our community will thank you, too!
Next, about the floods and down cams. I really don't have to tell any of you too much here about them - you all already know - unless you live out of state. But yes, it appears US Highway160, is in real bad shape and may be closed for a long time to come. The road and some bridges are gone in some places, with mudslides in others (like on the pass). Wolf Creek Pass is a mess and yes, it's cams are off line at the moment. As far east as Alamosa is affected. Over there, the official NWS weather station has been down for over a week now. Officially I have this on that station: "The sheer volume of rain and subsequent flooding caused widespread power outages, knocked out local telecom communication lines, and physically impacted automated meteorological sensors. Because the NWS automated stations rely on local power and cellular/radio telemetry to transmit hourly data to the regional hub in Pueblo, the network is offline until infrastructure is restored". So this is what we will have to live with for now. So goes life, my friends!
(posted by Keno on Monday, November 6 at 344 am)
There's really too much to cover here, and it looks like I wrote up yet another mumble jumble here again! But if you know me at all, I write as I do and make no excuses for how it ends up! I'll try to keep this short, but then again, heck, I won't! I'm an old man in my 70s, I should be retired from doing any real work. Yet I've been doing volunteer work for the National Weather Service (NWS) since I was a kid growing up in NYC back in the 1960s. I've been reporting for them here in Colorado since after I finished high school and moved out west. But since I've lived in Colorado, in the towns of Manitou Springs, Telluride and now for around 24 years here in Crestone, I don't think I've seen a month's worth of rain as I (and you) seen in southern Colorado in the last 30 or so days. So that's what I'll write about here, starting off with the Snow Report for what should have been posted here yesterday morning, not this morning, but being a bit late with things is how this old man now operates, unlike the man I was for most of my life when I was always on time.
To say the least, this snow report is very limited in info on yesterday's snowfall. Part of the reason being that while it snowed for several hours, the temperatures here at the Crestone-Baca Weather station were above or at freezing in the early morning hours when it was snowing. I guess I can also note that only one spotter reported in, as my friend Paul, who reports from the very top of the Baca, at 8,560 feet, reported 1.5 inches of snow on the ground yesterday morning. I should note that Paul has been a spotter here in the Baca for a lot longer than I have - as he's been living in this area for years before I moved here, so I thank him for being a spotter for me, you and the NWS for longer than anybody in this area has. At my place, I, the lifelong night owl, was up for the entire nite/morning on Thursday and we had 0.1 of an inch of snow on the ground just before 3 am. It snowed for several hours, first as a mix late nite Wednesday before midnight, then, just after midnight, it turned to all snow and stopped just after 3am. Reason for so little snow was because the temp was around freezing and above most of that time. By 4 am or so, we had more of a white glaze on the ground than real snow in the areas where it hadn't melted yet. By mid morning I noticed just a bit of snow left on my deck, but only in spots. So, those were the only 2 local reports from our area I have to report and I've been asked if I would even write up snow reports for this new snow season or not. Well I'll get to that below in a second, but first, I have one last report from up high, from the automated weather station above town at South Colony, located east of town in our main mountains at around 10,800 feet. The nightly report that came in from up there this morning at midnight, reported 1.0" of new snow falling Thursday morning before dawn. The snowpack at the station is 11.0". Do understand that these automated stations are never that accurate and are known to miss a lot of the snow that falls, especially if the wind is blowing - and up there the wind blows a lot more than it does down here. But of course, nobody lives up there either, so this is all we have to go by.
Now, I've been asked if I would be writing up snow reports again this season, here at keno.org, as I've been doing so for well over 20 years now. My answer will have to be both yes and no. I'm not going to lie to you, and those close enough to me know that my health in old age is getting in my way of my doing most things. Yes, I can still write things up clear enough, but if you take the daily weather report as an example - for the normal 5 day report with no big weather events happening, it used to take me around 20 minutes to set a forecast and then type up and place it all online. The same thing today takes me about an hour, and to be honest, I rely a lot on the NWS's forecast today than making up my own report like I used to do up until last year. I noted here last year, that's it's becoming harder for me to do this work 7 days a week anymore. I don't have to tell you that if a job is fun to perform, then it's not work at all. That was the case for me with being the weatherman. I've loved this work for my entire life - but I'm not a kid anymore, or even middle age, I'm a senior citizen, what else can I say, and most seniors my age are long retired. I'm retired from most things other than still running a few last web sites on this domain, including this Crestone Weather station, and for the most part, 2 or 3 of my web cam sites.
No, I didn't put out the yearly notice for new snow spotters for our new snow season that usually appears each October. While I still plan to report most snow events this season (I hope) and welcome anybody who wishes to send in reports, well, let's just say that most of us humans, once we hit our septuagenarian years, don't really make long time plans. You really do just live day to day when you're older, and are happy when each new day starts out for you, since noting is guarantee in life once you are elderly. Plus yes, I know that the term "elderly", or even "senior citizen", is generally no longer considered acceptable or polite to use anymore. Well, it don't bug me being called that, and I don't really give a damn anymore what others may think! Look, I realize that many of my fellow seniors hate being called that, but I don't care, I am what I am. I never been one to be a fake like some folks (of all ages) are. I'm also sick of the other generations putting down Boomers, too! Boomers were perhaps the only generation that was totally put down when we were young by our parents' generation, and now today, we're put down by our kids and grandkids generation! Well, I'm sick of a lifetime of putdowns from the other generations! Our parents generation is now long dead and us Boomers are now the ones dying out. It's a normal thing and a big deal shouldn't be made of it either way. But to anybody who doesn't dig Boomers, well that's your problem, and since I'm a Boomer, if you don't like me or my kind, then I suggest that perhaps you get your weather reports elsewhere. But better yet, why don't you just stop your hating? If you're lucky (or unlucky), you'll be a senior (or whatever you want to call this age group) one day, too, and maybe understand why this angers me and others my age.
Okay, now that I went totally off subject there, where was I? Yes, the snow reports. I plan on still running them - but, they might be late sometimes, like this one was. I'll also note than I'm down to around just 5 spotters. At least that's where I think I'm at now and again, while the noticed didn't go out this year for new spotters, if you want to join us, please drop me a line and I'll get back to you and welcome your report, as our community will thank you, too!
Next, about the floods and down cams. I really don't have to tell any of you too much here about them - you all already know - unless you live out of state. But yes, it appears US Highway160, is in real bad shape and may be closed for a long time to come. The road and some bridges are gone in some places, with mudslides in others (like on the pass). Wolf Creek Pass is a mess and yes, it's cams are off line at the moment. As far east as Alamosa is affected. Over there, the official NWS weather station has been down for over a week now. Officially I have this on that station: "The sheer volume of rain and subsequent flooding caused widespread power outages, knocked out local telecom communication lines, and physically impacted automated meteorological sensors. Because the NWS automated stations rely on local power and cellular/radio telemetry to transmit hourly data to the regional hub in Pueblo, the network is offline until infrastructure is restored". So this is what we will have to live with for now. So goes life, my friends!
