Snowstorm Follows Denver Post Article Predicting Fewer Snowstorms
Here's a new way to tell if there's going to be a snowstorm: Wait for the Denver Post to run a story in which prognosticators suggest that such weather systems will be few and far between.
Last year, as sketched out in this More Messages blog, a Post reader noted that two weeks prior to the first of several blizzards to smack the metro area, the broadsheet ran an article built around predictions of a dry winter by Klaus Wolter, a scientist affiliated with the University of Colorado and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Cut to November 28, when snow began falling less than 24 hours after that same Post reader had perused a report in the paper predicting "a warm, dry winter." The piece, headlined "Snowpack Falls Short of Norm," rang bells for another reason, too. The man featured in the photo accompanying the offering was none other than Klaus Wolter, who called conditions "dry and grim" and hinted they were likely to get worse.
The folks in charge of the Post's weather page didn't expect Mother Nature to contradict the esteemed Mr. Wolter quite so quickly. The published prediction for Denver weather on the 28th was "Windy and colder. Mostly sunny." The Rocky's "Sunny but colder" prophecy was off-base as well.
Such seers clearly didn't realize that if CU brainiacs warn about a snow shortage in the Post, plenty of snow is sure to follow. -- Michael Roberts
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