Rain is so important when you live in a desert. And this came up as a complete surprise to almost 100% of everyone. This is why NOAA has an office in Boulder, just to watch how weather forms up here on the "Front Range". This storm has been moving in 3 different directions.. it's coming from the south and is moving north, but it's changing from north to north by north east and then bounced to east by north east, then back to north by north east. I'm watching it come in waves.. sometimes slanted rain, sometimes straight down.

BUT WHO CARES! IT'S RAIN!! Also heard some thunder going on there.. first thunderstorm of the year! Yay!!

and, as I type this, it is over. *sigh* Well, it was good while it lasted.

Oh, too bad it didn't last longer. It sounds fickle, running around in all directions, so maybe it'll come back.

NOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!

NO NO NO NO NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



Forecast for Elbert/Central and East Douglas Counties Above 6000 Feet Hide
Updated: 7:11 PM MDT on April 22, 2010
Winter Storm Watch in effect through Saturday morning...

Tonight
Showers and thunderstorms likely in the evening...then rain and snow overnight. Snow accumulation up to 3 inches possible. Lows in the upper 30s. Northwest winds 10 to 20 mph.
snow

Friday
Rain and snow. Snow accumulation up to 3 inches possible. Highs 44 to 50. North winds 10 to 15 mph.
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Friday Night
Rain and snow showers in the evening...then snow after midnight. Windy. Snow accumulation of 2 to 5 inches possible. Lows in the lower 30s. Northwest winds 10 to 20 mph shifting to the north 20 to 30 mph after midnight.

Saturday
Snow in the morning...then rain and snow showers likely in the afternoon. Windy. New snow accumulation up to 2 inches possible. Highs 45 to 51. Northwest winds 20 to 30 mph.
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Eeewwwwwww! Brrrrrrrr

and, as I read this, I look out my window here at work and see that it's mushing. It's that we sloppy snow that is always melting and really mushy. at this rate, we'll get about 3-6 inches today as it's comin' down.

Tornadoes yesterday. Snow today.

I HATE COLORADO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I wanna move!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :( :(

We've had a nice number of sunny days over 70F this spring. They said it would get chilly last night, but I didn't quite expect this.

Meanwhile, back in my office, I had an order of roses from Vintage Gardens that were doing this.

That almost looks like a black and white photo, Steve. Incredible.

Toni, we have to get you out of Colorado!

Fortunately, it turned out to be the perfect rose-planting day. It was clear and bright and about 55F for about three hours in the AM. Then it got cloudy. In any case, the soil is nice and damp, making it easy to move, easy to pack, and easy saturate when watering in roses. Tomorrow's supposed to be in the 70's and sunny.

It's funny. Fort Collins was on our short list for places to move to. And I would have gotten a bigger rose garden there. But I think maybe I prefer the weather here. Just a bit. No tornadoes, for instance.

Steve - Oh how I envy you! It didn't get above 50 degrees.. we ended up w/3" of snow, but it melted between storms. We're on the 4th storm for the day.. these past two days have been extremely odd as every storm has flowed backwards, going west. We're still under a Winter Storm Warning until 9am tomorrow... if this next storm does all the same as the previous, we'll be socked in pretty hard. As it is, my front yard has about 2-3" of water in some spots.. it's sooo saturated that it can't absorb any more (I get runoff from my neighbors, too). I need to do something about that along the lines of a pipe system that drains the water out into the street.. or build a "riverbed" in my yard. I could do that.. I think that would be easier to do than digging 6" down about 80 feet long and laying pipe.

Ft Collins is too .. college-y for me. They're ALMOST as bad as Boulder, but not quite.

Zuzu - I wish I could move. I sincerely do. But you have to go where the jobs are, and, for right now, we both have decent jobs that pay the bills.

Part of my yard/garden is a stream bed. Had a deluge 35 ft wide and 3 ft deep running at 10-15 mph for a day in January. Now it's pretty much bone dry. I'm trying to figure out how close to it I can plant things that don't like wet feet in the winter. Can't fill it with pretty river rocks because sand washes in and covers them. Swamp plants don't like it there when it's dry. Trying to choose and cultivate native plants that already grow there.

...

Einstein once said that if he were to live his life over again he'd probably be a plumber. It was not until I was about 40 that I realized one of the great attractions of that idea: sometimes a trade like that can be pretty portable. One could choose where to live and probably find a job there. But by then it was too late for me. I had a master's degree in something and some pretty specialized work experience. I feel extraordinarily lucky to be retired.