A slow, blockbuster storm is likely to bring the biggest blizzard in decades to parts of the Rocky Mountain’s Front Range and western plains states this weekend, possibly defying all-time records for some cities. On the hot side of the storm, the first severe spring weather outbreak threatens Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas.
The huge whirling storm system was plunging south from the Pacific Ocean to California on Wednesday, providing much-needed rain and snow after the storm. drier room Excerpt of 18 months in the state’s history. Heavy showers will bring an inch or two of rain in many parts of the state and more than a foot of snow at higher altitudes.
NOAA
As soon as the storm hits the Rocky Mountains, it will subside and intensify, using its atmospheric dynamics to channel hot, humid air from Mexico to the north – hitting the wet mat directly on highlands in the western plains and rocky mountains. This effect of forcing air to rise due to the elevation of the ground is called orographic elevation and is responsible for the biggest snowstorms in cities like Denver and Boulder.
While the first round of snow is falling on Wednesday in Colorado, Wyoming, Nebraska and South Dakota, it is the next round, starting on Friday and reaching its climax on Sunday, which will make travel almost impossible, with rates of snowfall of 2 to 4 inches per hour. Wind gusts above 45 mph are likely on Saturday, increasing to 60 mph on Sunday, which means that snowfall conditions will be widespread.
It is still early, but computer models see the target of the strongest blizzard that extends from Denver and Boulder in Colorado to the north to Cheyenne and Casper, Wyoming and to the northeast to Scottsbluff, Nebraska and Rapid City, South Dakota. In these areas, 2 to 3 feet of snow can be common. There is even a chance that isolated locations will accumulate up to 50 inches of snow during this series of six-day elongated weather events.
CBS News
Although it is too early to know for sure, the first indications are that historical records of snowfall may be threatened. This is both a product of the slowness with which the storm must move, and an indication of its intensity.
Like many previous snowstorms in this part of the country, it is being caused by what is known as minimal cut. This is a system that is usually cut from the forward direction of the jet stream. In this case, the storm is trapped under a hot high pressure ridge in Canada, which acts as a block, allowing the storm to persist for days.
This type of setup is how Boulder, Colorado, set its heaviest 24-hour snowfall record ever, exactly 100 years ago. As this weekend, a Pacific storm was trapped for days south of a stubborn mountain of warm air to the north. This 1921 storm ended up producing about 100 centimeters of snow in 4 days.
Denver’s biggest snowstorm was in December 1913, when nearly 46 inches of snow fell. Most recently, in a 2003 storm, the city reached 31.8 inches. It is no exaggeration to say that Denver can see its biggest blizzard in 18 years or more this weekend.
Not all of this is bad news. Now, most of the West is experiencing one of their worst droughts ever recorded, with much of the region in extreme or exceptional drought conditions.
US Seca Monitor
Severe storms and tornado threat
On the eastern side of the storm, which is warmer, it is becoming clearer that the system will bring with it the first severe weather event of the season. This means that areas from western Texas to Oklahoma and southern Nebraska will need to watch out for heavy storms, hail, winds and tornadoes from Friday to Sunday.
On Friday, the biggest threat will come from western Texas, near Lubbock, in western Oklahoma. On Saturday and Sunday, that threat will shift eastward towards Oklahoma City and Dallas.
The storm will finally begin to subside on Monday, bringing heavy rains to areas in the middle of Missouri and the Mississippi Valley, where several inches of rain are possible from Thursday to the middle of next week. Residents should be aware of the risk of flooding the river.