It’s an incredible day for weather and extremes on this May 18. You don’t see often if ever, winter storm warnings widely over the Rockies where Denver could see 2-4 inches, Cheyenne 12-24 inches while it’s in the low to mid 90s up the East Coast from DC to Boston and let’s not forget the HIGH RISK for tornadoes over parts of Kansas and Oklahoma in between the warm and cold.
GFS surface/precip for this afternoon.
Credit: Tropical Tidbits
Don’t much bigger of a thermal contrast at this time of year as today!
Credit: Tropical Tidbits
Credit: Tropical Tidbits
Credit: weather.com
CURRENT RADAR
I-25 in Wyoming earlier.
Jess Trukker @Jesstrukker
Meanwhile on the beaches of NY…
Tara J Del @TaraJDel
From weather.com
How Unusual is This So Late in Spring?
May, even June snowfall in the highest elevations of the Rockies is not unusual.
Accumulating snowfall beyond the middle of May in the Mile-High City, however, is rare, but not unprecedented.
This is only the 4th time a winter alert has been issued for Denver in May since 2006.
According to weather records maintained by the National Weather Service office in Boulder, there have been only five snow events on record producing more than 1 inch of snow in Denver after May 17. The last time it happened was in 1975. Broncos legend John Elway was only 14 years old.
Denver has seen accumulating snow as late as June 5 (1953) and a trace of snow as late as June 12 (1947).
Storms this late in the year have more potential to be more dangerous due to the greening of trees.
Possibly their worst late-May snowstorm dumped 10.7 inches of snow at Stapleton Airport from May 25-26, 1950.
Accompanied by wind gusts up to 30 mph, this pre-Memorial Day weekend storm caused extensive damage to utility wires and trees which were in full leaf.
Cheyenne, Wyoming, last saw a 6-inch-plus snow event this late in spring about 67 years ago, when Harry Truman was President.
Incredibly, Wyoming’s capital city has seen three such June events in their history, dating to the late 1800s.
Salt Lake City recorded their first measurable May snowfall in seven years, despite being only 0.1 inch.
Logan, Utah, picked up more than 4 inches of snow by Wednesday morning, only the second time in history dating to 1893 they’ve had such a heavy snowfall so late in the spring.
HIGH RISK for tornadoes on the Plains
In between the Rockies snowstorm and Eastern 90s is a HIGH risk for tornadoes in central Kansas/Oklahoma.
g
Recent Comments