September snow could help with western wildfires
A powerful cold front spawned booming thunderstorms Tuesday morning and a wide variety of high temperatures across Michiana Tuesday afternoon.
The same cold front also blasted through the Rocky Mountains, with...slightly different results.
Whoa, check out this video from Steamboat Springs! The wind and snow makes this look like the dead of winter, not early September.
— Denver7 News (@DenverChannel) September 8, 2020
Here's what to expect today as heavy snow continues to fall in the mountains and moves into Denver: https://t.co/RWjahv7rI5#COwxpic.twitter.com/lRktsJho1d
After highs reached the 90s in Denver (for the 73rd time!) on Labor Day, temperatures plummeted 56 degrees in 12 hours at Denver International Airport. That is the second biggest 12-hour drop in temperatures on record in Denver, and the earliest in the year that a temperature plummet like this has occurred.
Denver could see a ~ 60° temperature swing in the next 12 hours. Largest drop in 57°/12 hrs, 74° / 36 hrs, #cowx.
— Tom Coomes (@TomCoomes) September 8, 2020
South Bend by comparison 48°/12 hr, 55°/36 hrs. #inwxpic.twitter.com/HI82Li7vQz
The record 12 hour The front caused a temperature drop of about 15 degrees in South Bend Tuesday.
The heaviest snow is expected to fall Tuesday night into Wednesday morning, with some higher elevations picking up a foot of snow before September 10th.
Main impacts from this storm expected to arrive this evening when heavier snow moves in. There is still moderate uncertainty with regard to accumulations due to melting, but broken tree limbs and scattered power outages are main concerns for lower elevations tonight. #COwxpic.twitter.com/5O7aasIFGP
— NWS Boulder (@NWSBoulder) September 8, 2020
The snow should help with some of the western wildfires, too.
Snow was recorded over the devastating Cameron Peak (CO) fire, which crossed 100,000 acres burned on Tuesday.
While snow likely won't extinguish the fires, it will improve air quality in the region and allow for the fire to stabilize a bit. The cooler temperatures due to the cold front and snowfall will also aid firefighters, allowing them to attack hot spots over the next few days, when highs in northern Colorado are expected to be in the 40s and 50s.
This wintry wildfire relief will only last until the weekend, when warm and dry conditions will return to the West.