Twelve inches of snow was measured near the Spanish Peaks in Las Animas county.
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The episode as NWS PUB wrote it up.
Twelve inches of snow was measured near the Spanish Peaks in Las Animas county.
The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.
NWS Pueblo, CO wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Apr 22, 10:20 AM MST, 1 hour 40 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Pueblo CO 1120 AM MDT Mon Apr 22 2019 .SHORT TERM...(Today and tonight) Issued at 459 AM MDT Mon Apr 22 2019 ...Rain and heavy high elevation snow for the southern mountains... Challenging forecast in the short term as the upper low across southwest UT/southern NV is progged by models to drop into the desert southwest through tonight putting southern CO under increasing difluence aloft and under the track of ejecting disturbances on the northern periphery of the system. Cold front has already moved through eastern CO into northeast NM with dew points increasing into the lower 40s as flow shifts around from the east. Have been monitoring expanding stratus deck across the southeast plains though its been a littler slower to develop than originally thought. Suspect by 12-14z most of the plains will be covered in a low cloud deck. Showers have been also slower to develop along the lower eastern slopes of the southeast mountains and adjacent plains this morning...but starting to see some weak echoes across northeast CO with some light showers/drizzle forming. This should be pushing into the crest of the Palmer Divide by 12z with patchy fog/light showers/drizzle forming along the lower eastern slopes of the southeast mountains into the early morning hours as upslope deepens. With afternoon heating and some weak forcing from the incoming system should see scattered to numerous showers develop across the southern mountains and valleys. The southern Sangre De Cristos, San Luis Valley and eastern slopes of the eastern San Juans will see the best potential for some good rain and heavy wet Spring snow across the higher elevations over the next 24 hours. Still waiting for the moisture to penetrate into the San Luis Valley, but high res models have been persistent with the idea of southerly and easterly winds and higher dew points advecting up from the south and penetrating westward through La Veta Pass into the San Luis valley during the mid to late morning. A few hundred J/kg of CAPE will be in place across the mountains and valleys providing fuel for scattered thunderstorms to develop during the afternoon. With stable airmass across the plains, thunderstorm activity will have a hard time surviving as they push off the mountains and this will likely limit rainfall to along and west of the I-25 through most of the day. Snow levels will start out rather high today, up around 10kft. This does introduce some concern for localized flash flooding on Spring, Junkins and Hayden Pass burn scars should convective elements impact these areas bringing heavier rain rates. Can't entirely rule this out, but for now high res models suggest the combination of snow above 10kft and the potential for more stratiform precipitation to occur along the lower eastern slopes would suggest the threat is below the 50% threshold for going out with a flash flood watch. There will likely be a one to two hour period of some steady moderate rainfall late this afternoon into the evening before snow levels start to drop, so some enhanced runoff will be possible, especially for the Spring Burn Scar. For now, just don't see sufficient instability to raise flags that flash flood highlights will be needed. Suspect some flood advisories may be warranted for Spring Burn scar if it pans out as HRRR suggests. Meanwhile, higher peaks should see some heavy wet snowfall accumulations through tonight, and could even see some small hail across parts of the San Luis Valley and southwest mountains this afternoon with any embedded stronger convection. Convective forcing will wane with loss of heating this evening, but expect some steady light to moderate precipitation to continue overnight associated with northern extent of deformation band associated with the upper low. Suspect that models are a little hot with precipitation accumulations due to convective parameterization, especially given how far south the upper low will be positioned. Best lift will be along our southern border, but certainly some areas could see 6 hour QPF amounts of around .50 or a little more during the afternoon and early evening. With upslope focus across the Sangre De Cristo and Wet mountains, have decided to hoist some advisories for northern sections and a warning for the southern Sangre De Cristo mountains where over a foot of snow will be possible above 11000 feet. Its possible the lower elevations of the southern Sangre De Cristos may need a winter weather advisory, but most accumulations appear to stay above 9000 feet, and not enough of the lower elevation zone 74 has sufficient snow accumulations to warrant an advisory. Will have to monitor trends in 12z model runs to see if an expansion is warranted. Other area where some advisory level snow accumulations will be possible will be the eastern slopes of the Eastern San Juans this evening...though suspect some of the QPF here may be overdone by convection. Will continue to monitor model trends and expand as needed. The San Luis could see a mix or switch to snow overnight, particularly near the mountains with a quick couple inches of slush possible under the heavier showers, but with temperature hovering the mid to upper 30s until closer to dawn, suspect any accumulation will quickly melt which should limit impacts. As for the southeast plains...suspect GFS is too far north with QPF bulls spreading over the Raton Mesa region into southeast CO. NAM keeps this farther south in NM and 06z GFS has trended in that direction as well. Will spread some scattered pops northward into the far southern plains but decrease QPF from model blends. This should fall primarily as rain. Unfortunately with the forcing well to the south, suspect that COS and KPUB will see mostly clouds and perhaps some spotty very light precipitation this evening if we get lucky. Given the stability across the plains, this looks like more like a southern mtn event. -KT .LONG TERM...(Tuesday through Sunday) Issued at 459 AM MDT Mon Apr 22 2019 Unsettled and cool conditions are expected to continue over southern Colorado into Tuesday(favoring southern and western locations) as a closed upper low centered south of Nogales, Arizona early Tuesday morning, slowly shifts to southeast of El Paso, Texas by early Wednesday morning. For sensible weather, a Winter Storm Warning will continue over the southern Sangre de Cristo mountains above 11000 feet in combination with a Winter Weather Advisory for the northern Sangre de Cristo mountains above 11000 feet and the Wet Mountains above 10000 feet into Tuesday morning(expiring at noon MDT Tuesday). At this time, project that an additional one to four inches of snow should be noted over the Winter weather highlight locations(favoring southern portions) from 6 AM Tuesday to noon Tuesday. As this system moves away from southern Colorado, have depicted drier and warmer conditions developing over the CWA from Tuesday night into Wednesday. Then, from Thursday into the weekend, a upper ridge axis initially located over central Arizona on Thursday shifts into far West Texas by Saturday before moving into central Texas by later next Sunday, allowing above seasonal temperatures to be noted over southern Colorado during this time-frame. In addition, enough atmospheric moisture over the region will allow for the development of isolated to scattered showers and/or isolated thunderstorms each day over many locations. Also, the highest potential for increased gradient winds during the longer term should be realized from later Friday into the Weekend. The below seasonal projected maximum temperatures of Tuesday, should be followed by above seasonal minimum and maximum temperatures from Tuesday night into the weekend with the warmest conditions expected from Friday into the weekend. && .AVIATION...(For the 18Z TAFS through 18Z Tuesday afternoon) Issued at 1116 AM MDT Mon Apr 22 2019 KALS...expect showers and thunderstorms to increase this afternoon over the San Luis Valley. Thunderstorms will be possible this afternoon and early evening, before becoming rain showers overnight, possibly mixing with snow Tuesday morning. Reduced CIGS and VIS are expected with MVFR to IFR conditions this afternoon into Tuesday afternoon. KCOS...a few light rain showers are possible into this evening. MVFR to IFR CIGS and VIS are expected. Winds will shift southeasterly this evening with fog possible overnight into Tuesday morning before dissipating by the afternoon. KPUB...CIGS will be the main issue at KPUB this afternoon and much of tonight. CIGS will likely hover in the 3-5 kft range. Not anticipating any fog at this time. There may be a few showers in the vicinity of the terminal from late afternoon through this evening. CIGS will continue to be the main issue into Tuesday morning. Mozley && .PUB WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... Winter Weather Advisory until noon MDT Tuesday for COZ073-080. Winter Storm Warning until noon MDT Tuesday for COZ075. && AVIATION...MOZLEY
Hazardous Weather Outlook National Weather Service Pueblo CO 1126 AM MDT Mon Apr 22 2019 COZ058>089-093>099-231730- Western Mosquito Range/East Lake County Above 11000 Feet- Leadville Vicinity/Lake County Below 11000 Feet- Eastern Sawatch Mountains Above 11000 Feet- Western Chaffee County Between 9000 and 11000 Feet- Central Chaffee County Below 9000 Feet- Western Mosquito Range/East Chaffee County Above 9000 Feet- Saguache County West of Continental Divide Below 10000 Feet- Saguache County East of Continental Divide Below 10000 Feet- La Garita Mountains Above 10000 Feet- Upper Rio Grande Valley/Eastern San Juan Mountains Below 10000 Feet-Eastern San Juan Mountains Above 10000 Feet- Del Norte Vicinity/Northern San Luis Valley Below 8500 Feet- Alamosa Vicinity/Central San Luis Valley Below 8500 Feet- Southern San Luis Valley- Northern Sangre de Cristo Mountains Between 8500 And 11000 Feet- Northern Sangre de Cristo Mountains Above 11000 Feet- Southern Sangre de Cristo Mountains Between 7500 and 11000 Feet- Southern Sangre de Cristo Mountains Above 11000 Feet- Northwestern Fremont County Above 8500 Feet- Western/Central Fremont County Below 8500 Feet- Wet Mountain Valley Below 8500 Feet- Wet Mountains between 6300 and 10000 Feet- Wet Mountains Above 10000 Feet- Teller County/Rampart Range Above 7500 Feet/Pikes Peak Between 7500 And 11000 Feet-Pikes Peak Above 11000 Feet- Canon City Vicinity/Eastern Fremont County- Northern El Paso County/Monument Ridge/Rampart Range Below 7500 Feet- Colorado Springs Vicinity/Southern El Paso County/Rampart Range Below 7400 Feet-Pueblo Vicinity/Pueblo County Below 6300 Feet- Walsenburg Vicinity/Upper Huerfano River Basin Below 7500 Feet- Trinidad Vicinity/Western Las Animas County Below 7500 Feet- Crowley County-La Junta Vicinity/Otero County- Eastern Las Animas County-Western Kiowa County- Eastern Kiowa County-Las Animas Vicinity/Bent County- Lamar Vicinity/Prowers County-Springfield Vicinity/Baca County- 1126 AM MDT Mon Apr 22 2019 This hazardous weather outlook is for portions of central...east central...south central and southeast Colorado. .DAY ONE...This Afternoon and Tonight Showers and thunderstorms with high elevation snow will develop across the mountains this afternoon and continue through tonight. The heaviest snow will fall across the crest of the Sangre De Cristo and Wet Mountains above 10000 feet with some light to moderate accumulations along the eastern slopes of the San Juan Mountains tonight. Snowfall totals of 8 to 16 inches will be possible across the crest of the southern Sangre De Cristo Mountains with 5 to 10 inches possible above 10000 feet in the Wets and northern Sangre De Cristo Mountains. The remainder of the mountains will see around 1 to 6 inches with some local amounts of up to 8 inches possible across the southern and eastern slopes of the eastern San Juan Mountains. Snow levels will drop to around 7500 to 8000 feet tonight but most accumulations will be limited to around 9000 feet and above. The San Luis Valley will see mainly rain but could see a brief mix or switch over to snow down to 7500 to 8000 feet towards morning. Only some slushy accumulations of up to an inch will be possible on grassy surfaces at times. Isolated to scattered thunderstorms will be possible this afternoon across the mountains and valleys. The main risks with thunderstorms will be lightning, small hail up to 1/2 inch in diameter, and some brief moderate to heavy rainfall. There is a low potential for localized flash flooding or enhanced runoff on the lower elevations of the Spring, Junkins and Hayden Pass burn scars this afternoon and evening should rainfall become heavy enough before snow levels drop later this evening. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...Tuesday through Sunday An additional one to six inches of snow is anticipated Tuesday, especially during the morning over the Sangre de Cristo Mountains above 11000 feet and the Wet Mountains above 10000 feet. In addition, isolated afternoon and evening thunderstorms, generally favoring higher terrain locations, will be capable of producing gusty winds and small hail are expected from Tuesday into Sunday. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... Weather conditions that meet reporting criteria for spotters will be possible over the mountains and valleys this afternoon through tonight. 88/88
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 winter storm. Local standard time, as filed.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Colorado in 2019Every state in 2019This day in weather historyWarnings in Colorado, April 2019
NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 821303.