A winter storm brought snow and freezing drizzle to parts of southern Colorado 30-31 October 2017. During the evening of the 29th, a cold front brought temperatures down into the 30s and 40s after a day of 70s across the plains.  A low stratus deck developed within northeasterly upslope flow behind the front across the plains by sunrise.

GOES-16 visible imagery during the morning of the 30th revealed quite a bit of interesting features atop the stratus deck. First, the westward-bound sea of stratus was stopped by the Sangre de Cristo (southern Colorado) and Sawatch (central Colorado) mountain ranges. The low clouds can be seen creeping into the valleys of the Sawatch range. In many areas atop the stratus deck, particularly over the plains, small wavelength waves/ripples are seen, exhibiting the high degree of stability. Downstream of mountain peaks poking through the cloud deck, V-shaped wave features emanate in a manner similar to an obstruction in a stream. Upper-level contrails flow into the scene quickly from the west, casting a dark shadow on the stratus deck.

Figure 1: 30 October 2017 GOES-16 5-min VIS over Colorado. Full res

-Bill Line, NWS

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