Snow science lesson: orographic lift

What's for your Thanksgiving dinner?

Orographic lift is a weather phenomenon occurs when an air mass is forced from a low elevation to a higher elevation as it moves over rising terrain. As the air mass gains altitude it expands and cools, which can raise the relative humidity to 100% and create clouds and, under the right conditions, precipitation.

In Steamboat’s case, that is snow! The Park/Gore Range, where Steamboat is located, causes these orographic clouds to form which means Steamboat can often get more snow than other places.

For those spending the Thanksgiving holiday in Steamboat Springs, we can be thankful for this weather phenomenon.  That is because we are experiencing a storm with an orographic flow right now! We can be even more thankful since the Steamboat Ski Area opens Wednesday!

We will be able to burn off the extra calories we eat on Thursday with the additional snow produced by this current storm. Read the weather forecast for this week below and have Happy Thanksgiving!

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GRAND JUNCTION CO
405 AM MST MON NOV 23 2009

.SHORT TERM…TODAY THROUGH TUESDAY NIGHT…
UPPER TROUGH HAS MOVED OVER WESTERN COLORADO EARLY THIS MORNING WITH
SNOW DEVELOPING OVER THE NORTHERN HALF OF THE FORECAST AREA AS
EXPECTED.

MODELS NOW SHOW A REINFORCING IMPULSE BRINGING THE -30C COLD CORE AT
500 MB OVER NORTHWEST COLORADO AROUND MIDDAY TODAY. THIS ADDITIONAL
ENERGY WILL KEEP ACTIVITY GOING OVER OUR FAVORED NORTHERN COLORADO MOUNTAINS THROUGH THE DAY. WILL LET PRESENT WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY STAND THROUGH MIDNIGHT AS LIGHT OROGRAPHIC SNOW WILL CONTINUE OVER THE NORTHWEST FACING SLOPES THROUGH THIS EVENING. AN ADDITIONAL 2 TO 6 INCHES ARE EXPECTED BY MIDNIGHT…WITH MOST FALLING EARLY TODAY. TEMPERATURES WILL BE COOLER TODAY…AND MUCH COLDER TONIGHT AS SKIES CLEAR BEHIND THIS LATEST STORM.

A DRIER AND WEAKER NORTHWEST FLOW WILL DOMINATE THROUGH THE REMAINDER
OF THE SHORT TERM PERIOD AS HIGH PRESSURE BUILDS TO OUR WEST.
TEMPERATURES ON TUESDAY WILL HAVE A HARD TIME WARMING ABOVE MONDAY`S
HIGHS DUE TO A COLD MORNING START. BUT LOWS WILL MODERATE TUESDAY
NIGHT…ESPECIALLY ON THE SLOPES AS A RESULT OF WARMING ALOFT.