News - Blogs - Colorado is really nice this time of year

Colorado is really nice this time of year
Published: 12/26/2011 3:37 PM
Last Modified: 12/26/2011 3:37 PM

This was the view from our rented place in Frisco, Colo., where my family stayed. The snow covered where the sun couldn't reach, but exposed areas were more barren.

Two of my brothers prepare to shred down the mountain at Keystone. The photos were all taken with my phone and this and the two following were taken with the Hipstamatic app, which my friend and former World photographer Adam Wisneski wrote about here.

My ma looks out over the slopes and mountains near Dillon, Colo.

Brother Austin takes a break from shredding to visit with his brother, who opted out of snowboarding to get in some quality reading time.

There was no white Christmas for Tulsa this year, which really isn’t that remarkable.

But I had plenty of the white stuff on my recent Colorado vacation.

There was plenty of snow (being made) on the slopes, plenty on my face, and plenty of snow somehow managed to sneak its way into every article of clothing I was wearing.

My trip up there was during the blizzard last week that dumped snow on New Mexico and Kansas, but missed us in the central Rockies. Another snowstorm about mid-week ran us out a day early and then dumped more than a foot on the Front Range.

Before that snow, it was a pretty lackluster season, so they say. There was snow on the north-facing slopes, though the ski areas that could make their own snow still did. The south-facing slopes were bare for the most part.

Still, it was it was absolutely breathtaking there. Quaint mountain towns and giant mountain peaks covered in brilliant white snow, frozen lakes and streams. It's a winter wonderland.

It was my first time to visit Colorado in the winter and I thought I would try to be cool and snowboard. All my brothers were doing it, so why not?

Well, I lacked the balance, flexibility, patience and determination to stick with it. After spending most of hour and a half it took me to get down a green hill on my behind, on my back and face buried in snow, I decided that Colorado’s breweries were more of a tourist destination for me.

Everyone told me “you’re going to want to give up, but don’t give up.” Well, in the words of Kenny Rogers, “You gotta know when to hold ‘em; know when to fold ‘em.” I folded.

Yep, Colorado is more of a summer destination for me, and I’m perfectly fine with that.

For those of you who are more capable than I and have skiing on your itinerary this winter, here is all the snow info you’ll need, from the National Weather Service. And, here are the reports of most popular ski resorts.

It was beautiful up there at 10,000 feet. But, with the memory of last February’s Tulsa blizzard still pretty fresh, I’ll be fine if the snow here held off a little longer (which will probably happen).

--Jerry Wofford

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Almanac

Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun
Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec

	Temperature		Precipitation
Date	High Temp	Low Temp	Total	Month to date	Historical average
1	44°	16°	0	0.00	0.05
2	59°	24°	0	0.00	0.11
3	57°	33°	0	0.00	0.16
4	68°	37°	Trace	0.00	0.21
5	69°	29°	0	0.00	0.26
6	66°	33°	0	0.00	0.32
7	59°	38°	0.05	0.05	0.38
8	51°	34°	0	0.05	0.44
9	44°	36°	0.01	0.06	0.51
10	62°	37°	0.07	0.13	0.57
11	54°	28°	0	0.13	0.64
12	44°	30°	0.25	0.38	0.70
13	55°	40°	0.01	0.39	0.76
14	°	°			0.83
15	°	°			0.89
16	°	°			0.95
17	°	°			1.02
18	°	°			1.09
19	°	°			1.16
20	°	°			1.23
21	°	°			1.31
22	°	°			1.38
23	°	°			1.46
24	°	°			1.53
25	°	°			1.61
26	°	°			1.69
27	°	°			1.77
28	°	°			1.85

TEMPERATURE

RAINFALL

SNOWFALL

Weather World

Follow Jerry Wofford on Twitter for updates during severe weather conditions.

Tulsa weather milestones of 2013 (as of Feb. 12)

Highest temperature: 70 on Jan. 11 (Record: 115 on Aug. 15, 1936)
Lowest temperature: 15 on Jan. 16 (Record: Minus-16 on Jan. 22, 1930)
Hottest month (average): 40.5 degrees in January (Record: 91.7 degrees on July 1980)
Coldest month (average): 40. 5 degrees in January (Record: 21.7 in January 1918)
Most snowfall (day): 0.1 of an inch on Feb. 12(Record: 13.2 inches on Feb. 1, 2011)
Most snowfall (month): 0.1 of an inch in February(Record: 22.5 inches in February 2011)
Most rainfall (day): 0.91 of an inch on Jan. 29 (Record: 9.27 inches on May 26-27, 1984)
Most rainfall (month): 1.54 of an inch in January (Record: 18.18 inches on September 1971)
Highest wind speed: 30 mph on Jan. 30
Previous day with any rain: Feb. 12
Previous day with 1 inch or more of rain: Oct. 17, 2012
Previous day with any snow: Feb. 12
Previous day with freezing temperatures: Feb. 12
Read regular updates on Oklahoma's unpredictable weather and learn more about meteorology from the Tulsa office of the National Weather Service.

>> Visit the main weather page
>> Send us your weather photos
>> Meet the forecasters

Contributors
Staff Writer Althea Peterson started writing for the Tulsa World in March 2007 after previous stops at the Norman Transcript in 2006 and the Oklahoma Gazette in 2005. She followed her older brother from rural Wisconsin (with a public school that never seemed to call snow days) to the University of Oklahoma, but did not follow his pursuit to study meteorology. However, she tries to find as many opportunities to report on the weather as possible.

Staff Writer Jerry Wofford came to the Tulsa World in 2010 from The Manhattan Mercury in Manhattan, Kan. Originally from western Arkansas and a graduate of the University of Oklahoma, Jerry has lived in Tornado Alley his entire life and is one of those people who goes outside when the sirens go off.

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