On May 19th, a cold front passed through the east-central region of Colorado. Due to this cold front, winds gusted up to around 53 mph causing blowing dust that lowered visibility down to 3 miles within portions of the region.
Every event with a place to put it; 1 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.
Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.
The episode as NWS GLD wrote it up.
On May 19th, a cold front passed through the east-central region of Colorado. Due to this cold front, winds gusted up to around 53 mph causing blowing dust that lowered visibility down to 3 miles within portions of the region.
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 Goodland, KS wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at May 19, 7:22 PM MST, 1 hour 31 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion...CORRECTED National Weather Service Goodland KS 822 PM MDT Thu May 19 2022 .UPDATE... Issued at 810 PM MDT Thu May 19 2022 Red Flag Warning has been allowed to expire on time as relative humidity values have risen well above critical fire weather criteria. Wind speeds have been nudged towards the HRRR as this guidance has been nearly spot on with the timing and magnitude of the wind gusts with the FROPA. Wind gusts up to 50 mph can be expected for 1-2 hours behind the passage of the front. Snowfall amounts were also cut back a bit to account for the 65+ degree soil temperatures, as the anticipation is for any snowfall to struggle to accumulate. && .SHORT TERM...(This evening through Saturday night) Issued at 255 PM MDT Thu May 19 2022 Across the Tri State area this afternoon, skies are mainly mostly cloudy to cloudy with temperatures currently ranging from the mid 80s into the mid 90s. Warmest areas are where sunshine is pushing through the current cloud deck. Winds are southwest around 10-20 mph with some localized higher gusts. For the remainder of the afternoon, wx concerns focus on the Red Flag conditions across the region with the downslope warm and dry wind. Current cloud cover is not allowing for any detection of fires and criteria for red flag is close to/being met in some locales. Will be continuing to monitor for fires through the warning period, as area drying still despite full sunshine over the area, and could be worse if skies were totally cleared out. As the high fire danger wanes this evening, the next wx concern(s) will be the chances for rain...snow and cold temperatures for the overnight periods on Friday and Saturday. The latest GFS/NAM show and upper level shortwave in tandem with a surface front working south from the north central Rockies. This system will trigger some light rain/rain showers starting late in the day Friday and continuing into Friday night and Saturday morning. Colder air working south on northerly flow behind the front combined with cooling of the column as it precipitates, will allow for a rain to snow transition, mainly in Colorado where the coldest air will be. Despite ground temps being amply warm, a couple inches of snow is possible for western portions of our Colorado counties tapering to a few tenths the closer to the KS/NE border you get. Raised surfaces will be impacted, but most of the snow should melt nicely when in contact with the warm ground. With clouds and moisture present overnight Friday into Saturday, have held off on frost/freeze products. Overall precip will taper from east to west Saturday/Saturday night as linger moisture will bring light rain to the area. It might be just cold enough in western Kit Carson/Cheyenne counties to have a few flakes mix in with the rain before ending. Cloud cover for the overnight period will be the deciding factor for this overnight timeframe for any frost/freeze product and may need to be addressed on later shifts. For temps, a wide range for highs on Friday as colder air begins to work into the CWA. Looking for 50s in the west-northwest up to the lower 70s in the east-southeast. On Saturday, looking for mid and upper 40s in Colorado and adjacent KS/NE counties, then increasing eastward into the lower and mid 50s. Overnight lows will be below normal starting tonight with mainly 40s to around 50F east of Highway 83. By Friday night, a wide range from around 30F west, to the lower and mid 30s stretching into the Highway 25 area, then the upper 30s to lower 40s in the east. Going into Saturday night, upper 20s west to the mid and upper 30s east. With the colder overnight lows and wind for Friday and Saturday nights, wind chill readings are expected to drop into the 20s to lower 30s Friday night with coldest readings Highway 27 and west. For Saturday night, readings in the 20s east to Highway 83, then 30- 35F. .LONG TERM...(Sunday through Thursday) Issued at 225 PM MDT Thu May 19 2022 For Sunday through Tuesday...models in fairly good agreement that upper trough will move little with a series of weak waves moving through the main trough axis. This will translate to below normal temperatures and occasional chances for precipitation. Temperatures will warm enough so that snow will no longer be a concern, but may be cool enough so that with little to no instability convection will not be a concern either. So, will have high temperatures in the 50s and 60s each day with lows in the upper 30s (northeast Colorado) to the middle 40s (Hill City) each day. Wednesday and Thursday...upper trough begins to move out of the area and a ridge builds in from the west. However, models still not in very good agreement on timing of the trough moving out or evolution of the upper pattern. GFS still insists that the trough will hang around, with the operational run even cutting off a closed low centered over Oklahoma by Thursday, meanwhile the ECMWF shows a ridge axis over the central plains on Thursday. Confidence in temperatures, weather and cloud cover remain very low for these two days. && .AVIATION...(For the 00Z TAFS through 00Z Friday evening) Issued at 450 PM MDT Thu May 19 2022 The main story for 00Z TAF period will be the cold front advancing towards the area resulting in an abrupt wind shift. The cold front is currently located along I-80 in the Nebraska Panhandle where gusts of 30-40 mph have been observed. A few hours of stronger winds looks likely behind the front with gusts up to 35 knots looking most likely, isolated stronger gusts are possible. Until then winds will remain from the WSW between 8-15 knots with occasional gusts approaching 15-20 knots. && .GLD WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... KS...NONE. CO...NONE. NE...NONE. && UPDATE...TT SHORT TERM...JN LONG TERM...024 AVIATION...TT
Hazardous Weather Outlook National Weather Service Goodland KS 810 PM MDT Thu May 19 2022 COZ090>092-KSZ001>004-013>016-027>029-041-042-NEZ079>081-210215- Yuma-Kit Carson-Cheyenne-Rawlins-Decatur-Norton-Sherman-Thomas- Sheridan-Graham-Wallace-Logan-Gove-Greeley-Wichita-Dundy-Hitchcock- Red Willow- 810 PM MDT Thu May 19 2022 /910 PM CDT Thu May 19 2022/ This hazardous weather outlook is for extreme southwest Nebraska... northwest Kansas and east central Colorado. .DAY ONE...Tonight... A cold front is moving into the area with winds abruptly becoming northwesterly with wind gusts up to 50 mph. This sudden wind shift and magnitude will make driving difficult for those on east-west highway such as Interstate 70 especially for high profile vehicles. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...FRIDAY THROUGH THURSDAY... Precipitation will overspread the region from the west Friday night and Saturday morning. Rain may occasionally mix with or transition to wet snow, mainly in far northeast Colorado and far northwest Kansas. Temperatures are anticipated to remain at or above freezing. Significant snow accumulation and/or impacts are not anticipated at this time. With widespread cloud cover and precipitation, frost is unlikely Saturday morning. Cloud cover will give way to clear skies by Saturday evening. Frost or freeze conditions are possible late Saturday night and Sunday morning, mainly along and west of Highway 27. Those with sensitive plants and flowers should prepare for much colder temperatures this weekend. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... Spotter activation is not anticipated tonight.
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GOODLAND KS
900 PM MDT THU MAY 19 2022
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0840 PM NON-TSTM WND GST 4 N LUDELL 39.90N 100.96W
05/19/2022 M53 MPH RAWLINS KS MESONET
KANSAS MESONET SITE 3 N LUDELL.
&&
TTPRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GOODLAND KS
901 PM MDT THU MAY 19 2022
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0845 PM NON-TSTM WND GST HALE 39.63N 102.12W
05/19/2022 M54 MPH YUMA CO MESONET
MESONET STATION TT563 SOUTH REPUBLICAN.
&&
TTPRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GOODLAND KS
923 PM MDT THU MAY 19 2022
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0853 PM NON-TSTM WND GST 2 E MCCOOK 40.20N 100.58W
05/19/2022 M59 MPH RED WILLOW NE ASOS
CORRECTS PREVIOUS NON-TSTM WND GST REPORT
FROM 2 E MCCOOK. ASOS STATION KMCK MCCOOK
AIRPORT VISIBILITY RANGED FROM 3.5 TO 6
MILES IN BLOWING DUST.
&&
TTPRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GOODLAND KS
926 PM MDT THU MAY 19 2022
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0921 PM NON-TSTM WND GST 1 NNE GOODLAND 39.37N 101.70W
05/19/2022 M54 MPH SHERMAN KS ASOS
ASOS STATION KGLD GOODLAND. ASOS ALSO
REPORTED 2 MILES IN VISIBILITY DUE TO DUST.
&&
TTPRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GOODLAND KS
933 PM MDT THU MAY 19 2022
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0855 PM NON-TSTM WND GST 10 S SAINT FRANCIS 39.63N 101.81W
05/19/2022 M50 MPH CHEYENNE KS MESONET
KANSAS MESONET STATION KCNK1.
&&
TTPRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GOODLAND KS
952 PM MDT THU MAY 19 2022
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0935 PM NON-TSTM WND GST 3 N COLBY 39.43N 101.05W
05/19/2022 M49 MPH THOMAS KS AWOS
AWOS STATION KCBK 2 N COLBY. AWOS REPORTS
3.5 MILES IN VISIBILITY DUE TO BLOWING DUST.
&&
TTThe national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 strong wind. Local standard time, as filed.
The KITR ASOS located 5 miles south of Burlington, CO reported a non-thunderstorm wind gust of 53 mph at its location. These winds caused blowing dust that lowered visibility down to 3 miles in the area.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Colorado in 2022Every state in 2022This day in weather historyWarnings in Colorado, May 2022
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: 1029027.