With temps in the low to mid 80’s and only a slight chance of showers, both Saturday and Sunday look great. So if you got caught with some unfinished activities last weekend, like planting the garden or maybe the BBQ was rained out, you should have little or no problem getting those in this weekend.

The long range looks nice through next week with high temps in the high 70’s to low 80’s and only a slight chance of thunderstorms early in the week. June 1st signals the begining of hurricane season, now don’t get the mind set that hurricanes don’t effect the weather here in Colorado. Hurricanes can and do effect our weather, they can change the patterns of the weather and push big amounts of moisture our way. The nice thing about hurricanes is they usually give us more time to react than a tornado does.

The Rocky Mountain Weather Network (RMWN) is an affiliation of Internet based private weather stations in Colorado, New Mexico and Wyoming. In addition to current and historical weather data from their personal weather stations, RMWN member web sites offer other related features such as forecasts, radar and satellite images, lightning tracker pages, and weather related web cams.

This a great resource if you are planning travel in the area and don’t care to wait until the evening news, or maybe you wonder what the weather is near a friend or relative. There are also affiliated networks across the United States. There is a link to RMWN in our links tab or you can simply click on the logo at the bottom of our home page. 

Please take time today to remember those that made the ultimate sacrifice in service to our nation. Should you happen to know a family who has lost a family member in service to their nation maybe a phone call or email is in line to let them know you are thankful. I could not phrase it any better than the owner operator of our sister station at www.thorntonweather.com has said it in his blog for today. Please go to http://www.thorntonweather.com/blog/?p=174 and read what he has posted I need say nothing more but please read this post.

Okay I had never entertained that thought myself since I don’t have any plans to visit there or enough frequent flyer miles to make the trip. I had very little interest in The Phoenix Mars Mission until I read that there was going to be a weather station on board the prob. Now I am interested in just what the weather station will include, and here it is.

The Meteorological Station has: A mass of 7.5 kg, A vertical lidar instrument for probing the atmosphere, A mast with= Three temperature sensors at various heights, A device to measure wind speed and direction from Aarhus University, Denmark and A pressure sensor from the Finnish Meteorological Institute. The weather station was supplied by the Canadian Space Agency (bet you didn’t know they had one did you?)  The science goals are to: Track daily weather and seasonal changes, Use the temperature and pressure measurements to validate atmospheric models, and Analyze structure and depth of the atmosphere close to the surface for information.

This Mission brings together NASA, The University of Arizona, and The Canadian Space Agency. If you would like to read more about the mission go here http://phoenix.lpl.arizona.edu The prob is to touch down at 5:53 MDT this afternoon.

Sundays weather looks much like Saturdays, but if you have projects you need to finish you might want to get them wrapped up before noon Memorial Day. The National Weather Service is giving us a 40% chance of thunderstorms tomorrow afternoon. So you may want to have a plan “B” in place if you had a picnic or barbecue planned for the afternoon or evening.

After watching the many different videos from the TV stations, storm chasers and citizens, two things stand-out. One, the amount of destruction that we see from an event that a lot of residents along the Front Range feel can’t happen this close to the Mountians. And Two the number of people that continued to drive into this horrific storm.

 Lessons we should learn from this event, One these storms are possible right here in Arvada or anywhere in the Metro Plex. Two not only do these storms damage massive amounts of property of all types, they also take lives. Three these are not something to play with, stay out of harms way. I am thankful for the work of the trained spotters, and the storm chasers that are attempting to gather knowledge of these storms for the purpose of earlier warnings to save lives.

Please! Please! take the time to educate yourself and those around you to the serious dangers associated with these storms. 

Are you ready to go back to work just to get some rest from the weekend activities? If you are one of those who tried to get a weeks worth of yard work or play or a combination of both stuffed into one weekend you may be glad to get back to work, or maybe not. With the temps staying in the 80’s thru Wednesday and then returning to more normal temperatures for the rest of the week, it looks as though summer may actually be here.

With a high around 70 Friday we will be drying out and warming up just in time for the weekend. Looks like a great weekend is just around the corner, with temperatures in the 80’s both Saturday and Sunday along with  clear skies it is going to be a super time to enjoy the outdoors. You can finely get the lawn mowed and plant the flowers that you didn’t get planted last weekend.  The forecast for the first part of next week looks very good as well, with temps staying in the 80’s Monday and Tuesday with only a slight chance of showers and thunderstorms Tuesday and Tuesday evening.

As daybreaks on Sunday the evidence of the severe storm and tornado damage becomes more and more shocking. At least 22 lives have been lost, and that figure will likley grow as rescue workers can search in daylight. So far most of the death reports have come from Oklahoma and Missouri, but reports are starting to come in from other states. The pictures that are starting to come in are shocking, homes flattened or completely gone, cars twisted and cruppled like aluminum foil, trees stripped or completely gone, unless you have seen what a tornado can do you may have a hard time getting your mind around the damage you see. This band of storms is not done, the Tornado Warnings are still being issued in Georigia and Florida, severe storm and tornado watches will be in effect until 1:00 pm in some areas.

Assessment and classification of these storms by the National Weather Service is going to take days or weeks. So don’t expect damage reports and tornado rankings real soon. May is known for being the month that tornado season gets in full swing and it living up to its reputation.

If you have friends or relatives that live in the Heartland, the South, or the Southeast it would be good to give them a call and check on them. Or if your Mother lives in that area, you need to check on her, you know she would check on you and it is Mothers Day. 

With clear skies, temps in the lower to mid 70’s and wind in the single digits, Sunday brings us a beautiful day to tell Mom thank you and tell Her how much you love Her.  Maybe breakfast in bed would be a nice way to get the day started and later steak on the grill.

Also Mothers Day is the time that the local experts tell us is safe to put those perennial flowers out and get going with the garden. I know some of you have already planted some of your early crops and may even be seeing lettuce and spinach peeking through the soil already. For those who may have questions as to what to plant when The Colorado State University Extension Service has a great online sight to help answer those questions. Check it out http://www.ext.colostate.edu/menugard.html I have found this site to be very helpful and it is specific to our area and climate.