Midweek winter storms becoming the norm in Boulder County
Another week, another midweek winter storm.
After temperatures in the 50s on Tuesday, Boulder County will see heavy snowfall set to begin early this morning and last into the evening.
Today’s storm is expected to bring 5 to 10 inches of snow across the county. Boulder and Longmont are expected to get around 4 to 8 inches while the western foothills, including Nederland and Allenspark, might see more than 10 inches.
But this is hardly anything new. As a matter of fact, the timing of this storm has become a common occurrence.
The Boulder area has regularly seen more snowfall during the middle of the week than the weekend in recent years, according to a graph tweeted by the National Weather Service Boulder on Tuesday, showing daily cumulative snow in the city since Oct. 1, 2019.
The graph shows Thursday as the day with the most cumulative snow at 102.4 inches, followed by Tuesday with 80.6 inches. Saturday, on the other hand, marks the lowest total snowfall at 27.8 inches. A day’s weather is measured from 6 p.m. to 6 p.m., meaning Wednesday night snowfall gets included in Thursday’s count.
“There’s no real rhyme or reason to it,” said Zach Hiris, meteorologist with NWS Boulder. “It’s just kind of a coincidence (over) the past couple of years, where the middle of the week has seemed to be a little bit snowier and the weekends have tended to be drier.”
Scott Schlecht, transportation maintenance manager for Boulder, said midweek snowstorms often cause greater traffic congestion as drivers are forced to slow down during their commutes to work or school. Schlecht said the city treated the streets with antiicing product on Tuesday to stave off today’s initial snow.
“It looks like the heaviest parts of this snowstorm are going to be during the morning rush, and that makes things difficult with everyone trying to get where they need to be at the time that the heaviest snow is falling,” he said.
A midweek storm may frustrate commuters, but Schlecht said it actually costs the city less than a weekend storm when it comes to compensating snow plow drivers.
“Weekends are generally all
overtime, and midweek is only partial overtime for shifts,” he explained. “No two storms are the same, but if they are very similar, I’d say a weekend shift would be more costly than a weekday shift.”
Schlecht said one of the city’s biggest challenges is getting consistent forecasting ahead of a storm. He pointed to staffing being light for the most recent storm based on its predicted snowfall. Today, however, will see a full crew deployed, he said.
The storm should end by tonight, Hiris said, with an initial wave starting around 3 a.m. that should continue through rush hour and bring with it the majority of snow. After a short break, a round of slightly heavier snow should come in the afternoon.
Boulder County is on the southern edge of the storm, which will largely affect the central and northern plains of the U.S. Hiris called this a medium-sized storm for the county, similar to storms of the past few months and said it’s likely not the last.
“March is one of our snowiest months in Boulder County,” he said. “It’s almost the end of February, but we’ve still got quite a bit of winter left to go through.”
A winter storm warning will be in place from midnight to 8 p.m. tonight.
In Longmont, Homeless Outreach Providing Encouragement will be offering day and overnight shelter due to the severe weather today at Journey Church, 2000 Pike Road and Thursday through Saturday at Messiah Lutheran Church, 1335 Francis St. Day shelter will also be offered at Agape Safe Haven, 10656 Parkridge Ave., today through Friday, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.