GENESEE, Colo. — An impressive winter storm on Wednesday night dropped nearly a foot of snow on the Front Range foothills from Nederland to Divide.
10 inches of snow blanketed the Genesee area, while the biggest total of 11.7 inches reported in Clear Creek County south of Idaho Springs.
The foothills are known for big snow totals, and in storms like Wednesday's, they usually get way more snow than the mountains and the metro Front Range.
Just four miles east of the 10 inches in Genesee, zero snow accumulated at 6,000 feet near Golden. It is a common scenario with Colorado weather created by elevation and wind direction.
Temperature decreases with elevation. At 10 p.m. Wednesday it was 34 degrees at 6,000 feet near the C-470 interchange. Just four miles up I-70, it was 28 degrees at 7,700 feet in Genesee.
That would account for where snow sticks and where it doesn’t, but the big totals were made possible by something called upslope winds.
When the winds shift out of the east, they ride up the slope of the Front Range which cools the air rapidly and pins extra moisture up against the foothills.
There was a half inch of water inside the 10 inches of snow in Genesee, while there was just a quarter inch of rain in Golden.
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