A storm produced light to moderate snowfall in the Front Range mountains. Storm totals ranged generally from 3 to 11 inches across the mountains.
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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 BOU wrote it up.
A storm produced light to moderate snowfall in the Front Range mountains. Storm totals ranged generally from 3 to 11 inches across the mountains. The greatest snowfall was reported in the Winter Park ski area, where a public camera showed 11 inches.
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 Denver/Boulder, CO wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at May 3, 1:54 PM MST, 1 hour 6 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Denver/Boulder CO 254 PM MDT Tue May 3 2022 .SHORT TERM...(This evening through Wednesday) Issued at 232 PM MDT Tue May 3 2022 Water vapor imagery showing upper low dropping south and southeast into Northern Utah this afternoon with a moderate southwest flow aloft over Colorado. Ahead of the low, scattered showers developing over western Colorado and northern mountains with associated upper jet streak. The jet streak will shift east over Northern Colorado through the evening hours with associated showers and a few thunderstorms. These storms will move off the mountains and across the norther Interstate 25 corridor, north of Denver across Larimer, Boulder and Weld counties. High resolution models have been rather consistent with this band and will keep have the highest pops north of Denver to the Wyoming border. Behind the band of showers, lower clouds likely to fill in behind it with north to northeast low level flow. There is some drying aloft moving behind it which should keep the area mainly dry with only isolated coverage of showers through the night for mountains and plains. In the meantime this afternoon across the plains, Denver cyclone developing with southeasterly boundary push shifting back west towards Denver. Still stratus is holding on from BJC up towards the Wyoming border but should dissipate by later this afternoon. Coolest temperatures remain near the foothills towards the Wyoming border. There is general model consensus to drop the upper low southeast somewhere into south central Colorado by Wednesday afternoon. However the low not well consolidated with a rather elongated appearance. There is not much consensus on expected qpf but generally higher amounts would be in the mountains and foothills and lesser amounts on the plains for Wednesday. The airmass will be moist with weak upward QG forcing and should be able to generate light qpf amounts across the plains during the afternoon. Will have likely pops across much of the county warning area for Wednesday afternoon. The snow level will range from 6500-7500 feet with some light accumulations behind it. Higher mountain passes could see anywhere from 2 to 7 inches of snow, highest amounts north of Interstate 70 corridor. .LONG TERM...(Wednesday night through Tuesday) Issued at 232 PM MDT Tue May 3 2022 A cut off trough will be over east-central Colorado Wednesday evening and will slowly move eastward throughout the night. There will be ongoing showers and thunderstorms across much of our forecast area. The snow level will be around 7,500 to 8,500 feet so much of the mountains and foothills will see snow while the plains see rain. The higher mountain passes could see 1-3 inches of additional snow accumulation Wednesday evening. As the trough moves eastward, the forcing will go from QG ascent to descent on the west side of the trough. This, along with less instability during the night hours, will decrease the coverage and intensity of the precipitation. By sunrise Thursday, most of the precipitation will have dissipated or left our forecast area with the only exception being the far eastern part of the state. A ridge will move over Colorado late on Thursday which will dry conditions out. There will be mostly sunny skies during the afternoon and warm air advection that will increase high temperatures to the mid to upper 60s across the plains. The flow will turn more zonal of Friday which will keep our forecast area dry. There will be substantial warm air advection and downslope flow across the plains that will increase high temperatures to the low 80s is spots. Healthy flow aloft will result in breezy conditions for the mountains and foothills while the plains won't be as windy due to lee cyclogenesis developing. Saturday through early next week will be a period of active weather across the western US including Colorado. A series of troughs will move onshore over the West Coast and a cut off trough may stall over the Las Vegas area by Tuesday. It appears our forecast area will mostly be under the dry slot of these troughs as the main shortwaves pass to our north. With warm southwesterly flow and strong surface pressure gradients, this is a classic fire weather pattern for our area. Each day may need fire weather highlights. Looking at the ECMWF extreme forecast index, there is nothing that stands out besides a slight signal for well above normal temperatures Saturday and Sunday. It wouldn't be a shock if Denver were to hit 90 degrees for the first time this year this weekend but as of now, the shortwave troughs will be close enough to produce clouds and perhaps some showers that may keep temperatures down a bit. The mountains have a much better chance of seeing precipitation from this pattern than the plains. One of the shortwaves will inevitably move across our area that will produce high elevation show showers and the time frame that looks best for precipitation chances is Monday into early Tuesday. && .AVIATION...(For the 18Z TAFS through 18Z Wednesday afternoon) Issued at 232 PM MDT Tue May 3 2022 Surface winds are all northerly at this time but boundary to the east moving back west should shift winds back to southerly at APA/DEN 23z-00z with Denver cyclone moving into place. BJC still has MVFR ceilings but this should be eroding away towards evening. Band of showers and a few thunderstorms will mainly stay north of the terminals by later this evening but there is still a low threat at BJC/DEN and have indicated by a VCSH for now. Behind the band of showers, surface winds expected back to north and northeast with low clouds redeveloping later tonight. Scattered light rain showers will develop mainly Wednesday afternoon the storm system over Southern Colorado. Expect mainly MVFR cigs with the showers. && .FIRE WEATHER... Issued at 232 PM MDT Tue May 3 2022 There will be a few areas of elevated fire weather conditions on Friday as temperatures begin to warm and conditions dry out. The bigger concern for fire weather will be this weekend into early next week. A classic pattern for fire weather will develop with strong southwesterly flow aloft and surface low pressure centers that move to the north of our area. Well above normal high temperatures and dry conditions will lead to relative humidity in the teens to upper single digits across the plains and foothills. Models are also showing a signal for gusty winds which would create critical fire weather conditions during this period. && .BOU WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... None. && SHORT TERM...Entrekin LONG TERM...Danielson AVIATION...Entrekin FIRE WEATHER...Danielson
Hazardous Weather Outlook National Weather Service Denver/Boulder CO 955 AM MDT Tue May 3 2022 COZ030>051-041600- Jackson County Below 9000 Feet- West Jackson and West Grand Counties Above 9000 Feet- Grand and Summit Counties Below 9000 Feet- South and East Jackson/Larimer/North and Northeast Grand/ Northwest Boulder Counties Above 9000 Feet- South and Southeast Grand/West Central and Southwest Boulder/ Gilpin/Clear Creek/Summit/North and West Park Counties Above 9000 Feet-Larimer and Boulder Counties Between 6000 and 9000 Feet- Jefferson and West Douglas Counties Above 6000 Feet/Gilpin/Clear Creek/Northeast Park Counties Below 9000 Feet- Central and Southeast Park County- Larimer County Below 6000 Feet/Northwest Weld County- Boulder And Jefferson Counties Below 6000 Feet/West Broomfield County- North Douglas County Below 6000 Feet/Denver/West Adams and Arapahoe Counties/East Broomfield County- Elbert/Central and East Douglas Counties Above 6000 Feet- Northeast Weld County-Central and South Weld County-Morgan County- Central and East Adams and Arapahoe Counties- North and Northeast Elbert County Below 6000 Feet/North Lincoln County- Southeast Elbert County Below 6000 Feet/South Lincoln County- Logan County-Washington County-Sedgwick County-Phillips County- 955 AM MDT Tue May 3 2022 This hazardous weather outlook is for northeast and north central Colorado. .DAY ONE...Today and Tonight Low clouds and patchy fog will gradually dissipate towards early afternoon across the plains and Front Range foothills. Showers and a few thunderstorms will develop over the mountains towards mid afternoon and then spread over the northern urban corridor this evening. There will be a slight chance of showers over the far northeast plains overnight. Rain and snow showers will redevelop again later tonight across portions of Boulder and Larimer counties. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...Wednesday through Monday Wednesday will be cool with areas of rain. Snow will occur in the higher foothills and mountains. Precipitation amounts are expected to mainly be light. Mountain passes could become slick under heavier snow, otherwise roads are expected to be wet. A warmer and drier trend will begin Thursday and continue through Saturday. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... Spotter activation will not be needed today or tonight.
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
2 winter weather. Local standard time, as filed.
Light to moderate snowfall accumulating generally 3 to 10 inches.
Light to moderate snowfall accumulating generally 3 to 11 inches.
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: 1032152, 1032153.