My parents moved to Steamboat Springs, CO when I was in the
7th Grade and settled there. My sister attended school there K-12.
Barbed wire fences there are usually four strands, and a
normal winter is a 3 wire (about 30’ of snow total, but compacted). Some
winters are 2 wire (a disaster) and some, like this winter, not only cover the
fourth wire, but the top of the fence posts.
It is a hard winter for ranchers but a boon to skiers and
those who live off them.
Steamboat gets little, if any, wind being in a deep valley.
To the east is the Continental Divide where 100 mph winds are not uncommon.
What Steamboat does get is extreme cold temperatures, like -50°, night after
night. Tires develop flat spots sitting and in extreme cold don’t get round for
a few miles.
About ¼ mile from the location of the picture in the article
is Thorium. I’m not sure if there is a commercial quantity deposit, but I get a
perverse delight imagining the howls of the residents should it be developed.
Snow pack is at 123% of normal and winter isn’t over. Good
news for Lake Powell as the Yampa, which flows into the Green, isn’t impounded
anywhere downstream of Steamboat. Neither is the Green below Flaming Gorge in
Utah/Wyoming.
On a personal level, I don’t miss Steamboat but still have
fond memories of the Yampa Valley.
5 comments:
Thanks for explaining the local snow measurement criteria! I'd heard the terms, but now I understand them.
Only seen Steamboat on a map, but when The Kids got married they "Eloped To The Slopes", got married by a Preacher, and avoided the whole "Big Wedding" thing that they knew was bound to happen.
We had a big reception at Austin's out on Harmony, and they lived happily ever after.....so far!
The farmers will be happy to have the water.
Here, far to the south, the Arizona mountains had a typical winter if you can call anything typical. Maybe a total of 24 inches of snow across the totality of winter so far.
DRJIM
We got married in SS at the Methodist Church. Not a big elaborate deal but about 30 of my relatives were there. She was an orphan so just a couple of friends and stepfather. During the reception a huge thunderstorm rolled through. Said my Aunt Nancy, "I always knew when Frank got married all hell would break loose".
LL
Farmers will be happy if there isn't too much flooding. Nebraska is catching it right now on the Platte - ice dams.
I'm going to have to start looking at the weather patterns after they go through here and get a better understanding of what happens 'downstream' from us.
All my previous observations are from SoCal, and The weather patterns East of us had little to do with what came in off the Pacific. Here, they're just getting all built up to head East and do their thing.
DRJIM
Most of our mega weather originates in the PNW then gets pushed down to our latitude by the jet stream. Some summers we get what is called an Albuquerque low which sucks moisture from the Gulf. When this pattern stalls against the Front Range, we can get extreme flooding in the slot canyons like the Poudre.
Where both of live is in the rain shadow of the Front Range. The weather on the other side will vary a lot. Example, I-70 through the tunnel will be dry going west and a mess as you come out of the tunnel and start down to Silverthorne/Dillion. CDOT is your friend. https://www.cotrip.org/map.htm#/roadConditions and https://www.wyoroad.info/. The shit that hits us north of Denver almost always comes out of Wyoming.
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