02/18/2026
Stay safe!
Good mernin and happy Tuesday to my early risers, night owls, insomniacs, and neurospicy besties.
Today is Opposite Day.
I'm not trying to make light of the impacts we will be experiencing this week starting today, but as I previously mentioned, 10% of life is what happens, and the other 90% is how you respond.
I refuse to be the "doom and gloom" guy. I don't do this for clicks. I genuinely believe in helping people, and leaving them better than I found them, and I do that with humor, education, common sense, neurospicy spiciness, and dumb dad jokes LOL - and occasionally cool handy dandy graphics.
Mountains and Western Slope: Rain or rain/snow mix at lower elevations. Heavy mountain snow. Strong gusty winds with difficult travel and near whiteout conditions at times going through Wednesday. In fact, it may not stop snurrin until sometime this weekend. Not a bad thing. 😎
Wind gusts of 40-60mph with isolated gusts that approach 70mph, primarily above 10,000 feet.
For the rest of us peasants east of the Continental Divide: Do your best to avoid activities that may cause sparks or start a fire. Allow me to suggest some examples of such activities:
(because the air is basically spicy confetti)
Drinking Fireball… feels a little on the nose
Wearing corduroy and aggressively power walking
Watching movies about fire like it’s a double feature
Listening to “We Didn’t Start the Fire” on repeat like a maniac
Flicking cigarette butts into the wind like you’re in a slow motion country music video. Seriously, if you are one of these people, you don't deserve to breathe.
Dragging chains, welding in the backyard, or doing anything that ends with
“…hold my beer and watch this.”
Lighting fireworks. Like seriously, WTF are you celebrating? It's February. If you wanna blow s**t up, go eat Taco Bell, take a handful of laxatives, and lock yourself in the bathroom.
Real talk for a second
Conditions today are extremely dry with strong winds, and it truly wouldn’t take much for a fire to start and spread fast.
So the vibe today is:
Less sparks.
More snacks.
Bored firefighters.
Don't be selfish. Take a rest day or week. You'll live.
Now, why do the mountains get snow and we don't?
Well the answer is in the question. There is this big ass rock to our west called the Rocky Mountains. Perhaps you've read about it in a brochure, seen it on TV or read about it in a 5th grade textbook.
WIND. DIRECTION. IS. EVERYTHING. AND. SO. ARE. MICROCLIMATES.
I've said this for 10 years; so newbies, here's your Colorado Meteorology lesson. Pay attention.
When strong westerly winds and cold fronts blow across the mountains and down onto the Front Range, I-25 corridor, and eastern plains like they're going to do today, we no likey that direction. Why?
DOWNSLOPING.
When you force a bunch of air down the mountain to lower elevations, that air is compressed. That compression heats up the air, and dries it out. That's why you can literally start a journey west from Denver where it's 65 degrees and the wind is blowing harder than the Viper Room, and by the time you get to Idaho Springs, it's a blizzard and 40 degrees colder.
SCIENCE.
There are a few synoptic scale setups with the jet stream that allow storms to take a more favorable track to bring snow to places east of the mountains. Those setups have been few and far between this year. You can thank La Niña and a persistent dumb stupid dumb ridge in the western United States that overstayed its welcome by about 4 months.
Mountain snow continues through Wednesday, still windy for the rest of us and all of the chapped lips.
Second storm Thursday. More heavy mountain snow, strong wind, high avalanche danger, and difficult travel.
The surface low with this storm will be in far northeast Colorado (not a favorable spot. You want it much farther south), but this might bring some snow to far northern Colorado, Wyoming, and Nebrasky Thursday morning.
A few snow showers elsewhere if you're not in the mountains.
Storm #3 is Friday.
This one might (emphasis on might lol) actually bring a little snow to portions of the Front Range, I-25 corridor and eastern plains.
It takes a more favorable track across the four corners, and the surface wind is out of the east and southeast. This is the direction you want the wind to come from. Why? You force air AGAINST the mountains, and the only place it can go is UP.
This is called upslope. The OPPOSITE. Of downsloping. This is the best way to get snurfall for us peasants if you're not in the mountains.
Unfortunately this will probably be a fast mover, and the storm isn't particularly strong. Nonetheless, I will actually be back home in Colorado for this, tired as hell, but thanks Friday for the welcoming committee of possible snur 😜🤣
Weekend is dry. Breezy. Tolerable.
Then next week......
Storm brings more rain to the Western Slope and snow to the mountains as early as Tuesday night into Wednesday. Straight from the west. Again, not a favorable track for us east of the Continental Divide.
I'll pause the forecast there for meow. So, yeah it's busy. I have a lot of workies to do. I'll sort out all of the details for you, and will continue to pass information along. Be vigilant, and check in for updates when you can.
Remember, choose preparation not panic.
Remember, control your controllables.
Remember, the time is going to pass no matter what.
remember, choose to take care of each other.
We'll be fine. 😎
The neighbors here in France just got done yelling at their kids so loud that even I went and brushed my teeth and went to bed LOLOLOL
So grateful to The Krafting Home Team - Realty One Group Fourpoints (NOCO realtor Dusty Kraft helped me buy my first home), Blue Peaks Roofing LLC (one of my awesome premier roofing sponsors who has supported me for years), MouCo Cheese Company (locally owned cheese company making the best cheese in the history of cheese), and to The Rusty Melon, Erie (a great locally owned Erie restaurant that has also supported me for years).
Thank you guys for sponsoring this update and for your support of my page.
PLEASE SUPPORT LOCAL! You can visit kodythewxguy.com/colorado-sponsors for more information. K great thanks bye!
