Comments on "Heavy snowfall during an arctic outbreak along the Colorado Front Range." Nat. Wea . Dig., current issue

• Main Authors: August H. Auer, New Zealand, Meteorological Service, A Recent Article Wesley
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 1991
• Subjects: Arctic; New Zealand
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.665.9301; http://nwas.org/digest/papers/1991/Vol16-Issue2-May1991/Pg19-Auer.pdf

[hereinafter WWP] investigates an interesting heavy snowfall episode associated with the arctic outbreak of February 1989. As a veteran observer of winter snowstorms in the Rockies (University of Wyoming Professor for 22 years), it is my opinion that this article does offer some clues to an unusual weather situation; however, there are several salient points overlooked by the WWP that need to be reconciled for a more comprehensive explanation for the heavy snowfall. Heavy snowfall episodes, of the type described by WWP, caused by the overrunning of warm, humid air over the ther-mal barrier of a cold dome are not uncommon across the High Plains of Colorado & Wyoming. Such snow situations here in New Zealand, referred to as warm advection type snowfalls, are well known in causing catastrophic stock losses on the Canterbury and Otago Plains. In my experience