Issue Date: Sunday, May 22nd, 2022
Issue Time: 10:45 AM MDT

Summary:

By morning yesterday, the cold front and associated widespread precipitation was draped across the Southeast Plains back west to the Southeast Mountains, with coverage over the Palmer Ridge and southern portions of the Front Range and Urban Corridor. For high elevations, precipitation consisted of very wet, slushy snow, while the Eastern Plains had a wintry mix of sleet and rain. With the continued south-southwest progression of the system, precipitation tapered off from north to south, stopping briefly in the evening for the Southeast Plains and Raton Ridge; while snow and showers continued overnight, lingering into this morning, for the Urban Corridor and Palmer Ridge.

It will likely take a day or two for final snowfall totals to come in, but observations from CoCoRaHS observers from May 20-22 can be seen in the map below.

This was a huge event for Central and Southern Colorado. A west-east transect can be seen across Park-Teller-El Paso Counties with several snow total observations over 17.5 inches the 3-day period. Colorado Springs and Pueblo both set record snowfall totals for the past few days. Mountain snow helped to give a late season boost to the dwindling snowpack across the state, particularly in the Arkansas basin in Southeast Colorado, as seen in the plot of Snow Water Equivalent below.

No flooding was reported yesterday. If you look at the 72-hour MetStorm Live QPE in the bottom map, you can see the past few days have been a great precipitation event for most of Colorado. This can also be used to understand how snowfall totals translate into liquid equivalent precipitation.  While the Western Slopes and Grand Valley remained dry from this event, temperatures were still cold. Grand Junction set their record low temperature yesterday, reaching down to 29 degrees overnight.

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Issue Date: Saturday, May 21st, 2022
Issue Time: 11:05 AM MDT

Summary:

The cold front, which entered the state in the early morning hours yesterday, continued its south-southeast progression across Colorado – bringing plenty of much-needed moisture and some impressive snow totals. Precipitation began in the early morning hours as snow for the high elevations of the Northern Mountains and Front Range, and rain along the Urban Corridor and Northeast Plains. By early afternoon, temperatures continued to cool behind the front enough for a changeover to snow and the beginning of precipitation further south. In fact, some of the most impressive totals from yesterday come from the southern portions of the Front Range, Urban Corridor, as well as the Palmer Ridge. A CoCoRaHS observer in Colorado Springs gave an excellent description of the timing of precipitation throughout the day – their station recorded 2.32 inches of liquid and a foot of snow!

Holy cow. Rain began on Friday May 20th 2022 after 630am and was steady throughout the day. Rain turned to sleet around 4pm and turned to snow by 415pm. By 5pm snow was sticking the ground and clinging to hard surfaces. Branches on the oak snapped by 730pm. More branches down over night. Collection tube had .28 before turning to snow.

For much of the Urban Corridor, Palmer Ridge, and Eastern Plains, temperatures hovered right around freezing or just above, which helped prevent a lot of potential damage and limited snow accumulation once on the ground. Still, some tree damage due to wet heavy snow was reported, like the remark above. Roads largely remained wet as snow easily melted after particularly high temperatures the day before, mostly sticking to grassy or elevated surfaces. Precipitation tapered off in Northern Colorado overnight, while just beginning for portions of Southern and Eastern Colorado. Snowfall totals across the Northern Mountains range between 6-8 inches, while on the opposite end of the state, the Raton Ridge and Southeast Plains, are just seeing the effects of the frontal passage this morning.

Notable Northern Front Range Snow Totals (in inches):

• 12.5 in Genesee
• 10 in Nederland
• 3-8 across Boulder
• 2-4 across Northern Denver Metro
• 5-9 across Southern Denver Metro

Notable Southern Front Range/Urban Corridor, Palmer Ridge, Southeast Plains Snow Totals (in inches):

• 20 inches of snow near Cripple Creek!
  • Amounting to 1.76 total liquid, which will certainly be helpful in firefighting efforts on the High Park Fire.
• 19 in Palmer Lake
• 18 in Larkspur
• 13-16 inches between Woodland Park, Black Forest and locations across Colorado Springs, including the Air Force Academy
• Over 11 all the way down to Walsenburg
• 5 in Pueblo West
• Even 6 inches in Limon with almost an inch of liquid equivalent

To see how these snowfall totals translate to liquid equivalent precipitation, check out the Quantitative Precipitation Estimates in the SPM below. No flooding was reported yesterday.

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Issue Date: Friday, May 20th, 2022
Issue Time: 10:20 AM MDT

Summary:

It was a hot and dry one yesterday, with temperatures reaching into the 90s along the Urban Corridor down to the Southeast Plains, and then into the 70s and even some 80s for the Northern, Central, and Southeast Mountains, Palmer Ridge, and Western Slopes. Very high winds moved ahead of the advancing cold front, and coupled with the dry air, Red Flag Warnings were in effect for most of the state yesterday. High winds were reported all across the Western Slopes and Grand Valley, as well as the Eastern Plains along the I-70 corridor near the Kansas border, though it was blustery really everywhere. A 72-mph gust was recorded in Sawpit in San Miguel County and 50-70 mile gusts were reported up and down Western Colorado. On the Eastern Plains, several 50+ mph gusts were reported, and a grassfire was ignited near Wild Horse in Cheyenne County.

Then during the early overnight hours the much anticipated cold-front entered the state from the north, bringing a sharp decline in temperatures and plenty of moisture. For the high elevations of the Northwest Slope, Northern Mountains and Front Range, this came down as very heavy, wet snow. So far this morning over 4 inches of snow has been reported in Steamboat Springs, with up to 0.36 liquid according to CoCoRaHS observers, and it’s still coming down! Scott Longmore shared the following picture on twitter of 4.25 inches of snow near Steamboat. Similar reports on social media show over 2 inches of snow so far in Estes Park and across the Northern Mountains.

4.25” snow 5mi WNW Steamboat II @NWSGJT #COwx pic.twitter.com/HKrdmgS1yH

— Scott Longmore (@ScottLongmore) May 20, 2022

For the Urban Corridor and western portion of the Northeast Plains, rain began around 3 am this morning. Totals as of 7 am are still modest for the northeastern portion of the state, less than 0.25 inches – though it is just the beginning of the storm.

No flooding was reported yesterday. For rainfall estimates in your area, check out the MetStorm Live QPE below.

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Issue Date: Thursday, May 19th, 2022
Issue Time: 11:35 AM MDT

Summary:

Early afternoon yesterday saw isolated storm development along the Southern Front Range Mountains, Urban Corridor, and Palmer Ridge, which quickly developed into a line of thunderstorms, some severe, extending from Castle Rock to Limon. As the afternoon progressed, widespread scattered storms also developed in portions of the Central, San Juan, and Southeast Mountains, along with the Raton Ridge.  As storms moved eastward off the mountains and onto the plains, they were able to tap into rebounding atmospheric moisture and continue to grow in areal extent.

A total of 8 severe thunderstorm warnings were issued yesterday for cells across the Palmer Ridge and Southeast Plains. The biggest threat from these storms was high winds and damaging hail, though there were still some impressive precipitation totals. One CoCoRaHs observer near Limon reported 0.93 inches of precipitation yesterday, and there were several 0.50+ inch observations in the surrounding area. In Holly, which was included in the region of “Low” flood threat yesterday, an observer reported 0.75 inches of rain. Overall precipitation totals range between Trace-0.60 inches across the southeast quadrant of the state.

Thankfully there were no flood reports yesterday associated with these storms, but there were reports of large hail and damaging winds. A storm chaser east of Two Buttes in Prowers Country reported up to 1.25 inch hail. A bit further north in Hartman, a trained spotter reported downed power lines and utility poles on County Road 28. A 61 mph gust was also recorded in Springfield, near the OK-KS borders.

For rainfall estimates in your area, check out the MetStorm Live QPE below.

Click Here For Map Overview