A strong upper level low pressure system moved across the region, coupled with a potent jet maximum. This brought a short-lived active period to southeast Colorado, which included some snow over the central mountains and strong winds to portions of the higher terrain.
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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 PUB wrote it up.
A strong upper level low pressure system moved across the region, coupled with a potent jet maximum. This brought a short-lived active period to southeast Colorado, which included some snow over the central mountains and strong winds to portions of the higher terrain.
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 May 13, 9:54 PM MST, 4 hours 6 minutes earlier. Its key messages:
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Pueblo CO 1054 PM MDT Tue May 13 2025 .KEY MESSAGES... - Hot, dry, and windy for most again on Wednesday, with strongest winds over the San Luis Valley tomorrow afternoon. - A weak cold front arrives tomorrow night, bringing temperatures back down to seasonal normals for the rest of the work week. - Hot, dry, and windy pattern looks to return by the Sunday and Monday timeframe next week. && .SHORT TERM /THROUGH WEDNESDAY/... Issued at 239 PM MDT Tue May 13 2025 Currently.. Water vapor imagery shows us in-between two lows this afternoon, with strong southwest flow over our region. Lots of mid-level and upper- level cloudiness can be seen across the region, as the trough approaches from our northwest, though surface dewpoints and relative humidities reflect very dry air in the lower levels. Downsloping winds are apparent as well, with most locations showing strong westerly and southwesterly winds this afternoon. Temperatures have soared into the 80s across much of the plains, and Lamar just hit 90 this hour. Rest of Today and Tonight.. Westerly and southwesterly winds are expected to continue into this evening, weakening but not completely dissipating through the overnight hours. This will lead to continued mixing and very mild overnight lows across much of the region, especially for our banana belt locations. Many of our plains locations will likely stay in the 50s tonight, with upper 50s and even low 60s for overnight lows possible for our mountain adjacent locations. Mountain valleys will be cooler, where lows look to still drop into the upper 30s and 40s. Winds pick back in earnest early Wednesday morning.. Tomorrow.. Models pull the trough axis overhead by tomorrow afternoon, with the low moving into the northern plains by Thursday morning. This track will continue to pull best precip chances well off to our north, keeping better chances for continued, hot, dry, and windy weather over southeast Colorado. Daytime highs tomorrow will be cooler than today, though still several degrees warmer than normal, with much of our plains still in the 80s. Relative humidity values look to fall back down into the low teens again. West winds will be just as breezy, if not breezier, for most locations tomorrow as they have been today. This is especially true of the San Luis Valley, where a brief damaging wind gust or two can't be ruled out. The huge majority of guidance keeps wind gusts below High Wind Warning criteria for the SLV tomorrow, though NBM has consistently shown around 40 to 50% chance of 60 mph gusts in far southeastern portions of the valley. For now, confidence in coverage and intensity was too low for any highlights, but trends will need to be monitored closely as the event draws nearer. Strongest winds look to be prefrontal, and will be westerly through peak heating. Mountain wave is not looking likely at this time. Models bring the cold front through later in the evening, generally between sunset and 10pm or so at the latest. This will bring about an abrupt wind shift and an end to the gusty westerlies. At this time, post frontal northerly winds do not look to be overly impressive. The front itself is fairly meager, and also does not look to bring much in terms of precip. Best chances for showers, storms, and snow above 9,000 feet, will remain mainly tied to our central mountains for tomorrow, though we could get some isolated weak convection and showery precipitation over the higher elevations of the Pikes Peak region. It also doesn't look all that much cooler in our post frontal airmass on Thursday.. && .LONG TERM /WEDNESDAY NIGHT THROUGH TUESDAY/... Issued at 239 PM MDT Tue May 13 2025 Thursday Through Saturday.. The departing low moves into the Dakotas on Thursday, bringing mainly westerly flow into southeastern and south central Colorado. This pattern will persist into Friday and Saturday as well, keeping our weather mainly fair and seasonal. We'll be a few degrees cooler than Wednesday, and fairly closer to normal for this time of year. Highs look to climb into the 60s across mountain valleys, with low 70s for the southern I-25 corridor and El Paso County, and mid to upper 70s elsewhere on our plains. Chances for showers and thunderstorms will increase, but remain very isolated over the central mountains for both Thursday and Friday. Our temperatures warm just a couple of degrees on Friday, and then a few more on Saturday as our flow aloft begins to shift more southwesterly once again. Sunday Onwards.. Models continue to hint at another upper low diving into the Pacific Northwest next weekend, bringing it into Great Basin by Sunday and the Northern Rockies around Monday. This trend towards another northern track would keep us in the hot, dry, and windy section of the storm once again, just like this current system. If current trends continue, we could likely expect hot and windy conditions on Sunday and Monday, with a cool down behind the system by around Tuesday, however, there is still plenty of time for changes to timing and track with this one still being several days out. && .AVIATION /06Z TAFS THROUGH 06Z THURSDAY/... Issued at 1049 PM MDT Tue May 13 2025 Conditions will remain VFR overnight. Periodic enhanced south to southwest winds 10-15 kts will impact the terminals overnight before winds increase again Wednesday morning with gusts up to 40 to 45 kts possible Wednesday afternoon at all three terminals. This would ordinarily raise concerns for potential vis restrictions with blowing dust, but recent precipitation may keep dust from lofting and will keep vis restrictions out of the TAF for now. KALS may be the most at risk for this. Otherwise, winds will shift out of the northwest to north with the passage of a cold front Wednesday evening, especially for KCOS and KPUB, and remain gusty into the evening. -KT && .PUB WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... None. && SHORT TERM...EHR LONG TERM...EHR AVIATION...KT
Hazardous Weather Outlook National Weather Service Pueblo CO 717 PM MDT Tue May 13 2025 COZ058>089-093>099-150130- 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- 717 PM MDT Tue May 13 2025 This hazardous weather outlook is for portions of central...east central...south central and southeast Colorado. .DAY ONE...Tonight Winds will diminish this evening for most areas but will stay gusty over the higher mountains and along the eastern slopes of the Sangre De Cristo mountains where localized gusts up to 50 to 60 mph will be possible overnight. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...Wednesday through Monday Meteorological critical fire weather conditions are expected over portions of the area each afternoon through Saturday, with Wednesday showing the most widespread concern. However, fuels at this time appear too green to warrant any highlights, based on recent heavy rainfall. Afternoon and evening showers, with a few thunderstorms, will be possible each afternoon Wednesday through Saturday. Best chances will be over the Central Mountains, with lightning, small hail, and gusty outflow winds as the main impact concerns. An incoming low pressure system is expected to bring wetter and more unsettled weather to the area, starting late Sunday and moving into next week. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... Weather spotters will not be needed the rest of tonight. 31/23
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.
There was a 77 mph gust measured 4 miles south of Weston, CO.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Colorado in 2025Every state in 2025This day in weather historyWarnings in Colorado, May 2025
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: 1269991.