I first started writing about Colorado's weather in the fall of 2008, but my love of weather and forecasting came years before that. Nearly all of my earliest and most frequented memories as a kid involve the weather. Hail storms of the early 90s, watching torrential ‘monsoonal’ downpours from the front porch, equal parts hating and loving thunder, formidable blizzards (1997, 2003), and of course in the later years chasing severe storms across the High Plains.

For the October blizzard of 1997 it wasn’t the aftermath that sticks with me the most. Yes, jumping off the roofs into the snow was epic, but really it was the night before – as the streets of Denver were gradually transformed into an arctic snowscape that sticks with me. It was the anticipation in the days prior leading up to that initial snowflake. It was perhaps for the first time understanding that humans were able to not just predict what would happen, but that these predictions were so profoundly important given the weather’s impact on life.

The amazing thing about the weather is how both predictable and unpredictable it is. The amazing thing about the weather is how many different ways you can fall in love with it. The amazing thing about the weather is it’s both as beautiful as it is powerful, destructive, and heart wrenching. It truly giveth and taketh away, and its impacts are felt by humanity each and every single day – often in ways we may not truly stop to appreciate outside of the occasional extreme event.

Weather5280 has given me an opportunity to share my love for the weather with those I’ve shared a city and state with for so many years of my life. It’s provided me a venue to interact with and learn from others that share a similar passion for this incredible part of all of our existence on earth. It’s also given me an outlet to geek out over data, visualize data, learn software development, and challenge myself to not just accurately predict our ever changing weather, but also to communicate that to others.

Weather5280 came to life during a different era on the internet. One, I’m afraid to say, that in retrospect feels far more “wholesome” than much of what we find today. There was an untapped interest in long-form journalism that I don’t know we have the patience for today in the same way, and frankly there were far fewer options for accessing information, be it weather or otherwise. In the early days of the site we were one of the few doing it. 2008 was the same year that the Washington Post picked up the Capital Weather Gang, and a few years after the start of the Wunderground Weatherblog. Between 2007 and 2009 we saw the first weather apps start to come online as well, but their reach wasn’t anything like what they are today.

Today's weather forecast consumption looks much different. There’s an incredibly large number of sources to choose from, many of which are very good, and the appetite for long-form forecasts has perhaps seen its heyday come and go as well. Easy access to weather data, sharing model imagery, and “hyper local” short term automated forecasts were not a thing 10+ years ago, where now the sharing of and consumption of that data is commonplace, if frequently still misused and misunderstood.

The advent of LLMs and general advances in AI have again started a dramatic transformation once more in how we create and consume weather data and information on the internet. While AI presents a real opportunity for massive leaps forward in weather forecasting, I’m afraid the impact on consumers of weather information, forecasts, and actionable data will see a number of ups and downs through this transition.

The end of the road, for now
Today, after more than 15 years writing about Colorado’s weather, and thousands of posts published dedicated to the cause, we write one last update to say goodbye.

Explaining why may be something of an impossible task. I’ve been searching, but haven’t found the right words to explain it, which is why this post is likely several months overdue. It’s just time is the simplest explanation. Sometimes it’s better to make the incredibly difficult decision to end something when it’s time rather than holding onto something far longer than one should. Like in weather, through life we all pass through different seasons, and this particular season for me has called me away from the attention this project deserves.

What’s next?
The short answer is we'll see. Matt and Brian will both continue to provide numerous weather-related services through their own business for the foreseeable future (if you’re interested in what they are up to, reach out! matt@makensweather.com and brianbledsoewx@gmail.com).

As for me? The first step is taking a step back, but another project or two may be in the works and of course I will share if and when there is something on that front 🙌. If you’re ever interested in getting in touch, talking weather, tech or otherwise, please drop me a line as well: brendan.heberton@gmail.com.

Thank you!
To all the contributors to Weather5280 over the years, THANK YOU. We’ve had so many local and national meteorologists contribute to the site over the years it’s been truly incredible and humbling.

A special thank you to meteorologists Matt Makens and Brian Bledsoe who have been a force in keeping this project alive as long as we have. And of course most recently Luke Victor (@LukeVictorWx) for breathing a fresh bit of life into our content creation on the publishing side of what we do.

Other contributors include: Becky Bolinger – Colorado State Climatologist, Greg Moore – Contributor, Ian Livingston – Contributor, CWG, Jason Fox – Editor, Josh Larson – Contributor, Laura Smith – Guest Contributor, Matt Lanza – Meteorologist, Space City Weather, Noah Brauer – Ph.D. Meteorology, Sam Ng – Meteorologist, MSU Denver, Thomas Horner – Guest Contributor, Highpoint Weather.

Finally I want to personally thank all of our readers over the years. It’s been an absolutely incredible ride, and I’m so grateful to have so many of you along for it each and every season. With thousands of email subscribers, and many more of you joining us on Twitter, Facebook, RSS and beyond, it’s of course too much to thank you each personally, but please hear me in my gratitude. Thank YOU, the readers who have inspired, interacted, and shared your love of weather with us over all these years.

Before we go, we have two last requests for you.

We would LOVE if you’d take a moment to share your fondest weather memories with us in the comments below as we close this chapter together.

We also have put together this quick survey if you have a few moments in taking a few moments to fill it out this would be greatly appreciated.

So long for now –
Brendan and the entire Weather5280 team