Letter from Doug Brady
Weather – June 2004 – Colorado Central Magazine
Ed,
Since I know you worry about the cultural status of Central Colorado in general, and Chaffee County in particular, below is a copy of the so-called statewide forecast from the National Weather Service in Denver, available at http://cyclone.natnet.du.edu/cofcst.txt. The words “Chaffee,” “Salida,” “Buena Vista,” and even “Granite” (I thought they might not have been updated on the peregrinations of the county seat) are missing.
I have often said to visitors that the weather in this valley is not forecasted for three reasons: there are not enough people living here to justify it; the mountain terrain and accompanying micro-climates make such forecasting impossible; and people would just talk and not do anything about it. I had no idea that I spoke the literal truth.
Thank you for the recent CC articles on natural beef. The City Market in BV carries but a small range of Coleman beef, and it’s good to find out about other possible sources.
Doug Brady
Buena Vista
Editor’s note:
The text of the enclosed weather forecast took up five single-spaced typewritten pages, so we didn’t include it here. But as Doug writes, there was no mention of Chaffee County or our principal cities. Yet Agate, Hugo, Limon, Matheson, Forder, Karval, Kutch, and Punkin Center were included; as were Merino, Peetz, and Cope; and Hartsel and Lake George; and Rand and Spicer; and Raymer and Stoneham….
We thought maybe if we looked at other sites, however, we could find Chaffee County forecasts. And we did, the Wunderground sites listed information for Buena Vista and Monarch Pass, but not Salida.
The National Weather Service, on the other hand, has numerous centers in Colorado (including Pueblo, Denver/Boulder, and Grand Junction), and they all list Buena Vista and Salida. But when you click on any of these towns, — or even if you manage to find the entry for “Central Chaffee County,” which cannot be readily found from any index — the sites bring up a forecast for Leadville/Lake County.
That is not entirely bad news, however, since one site maintains that some localities are posted only during periods of inclement weather.
Thanks, Doug, it was enlightening.