A Stormy, Wintry May in the Southern Rockies

by John Farley

May, 2014 was substantially colder, wetter, and snowier than normal in the central and southern Rockies, as storm after storm occurred in this usually rather dry, dusty month in the Four Corners region. Mountain snow and even thundersnow occurred on multiple occasions, and I was able to observe and photograph some of the interesting weather on the following days:

Snow Squalls and Thundersnow in New Mexico's Mountains, May 8 - Snow squalls and thundersnow storms move over parts of the Santa Fe area and into the Sangre de Cristo Mountains.

Mid-May Snow in New Mexico, May 12 and 13 - Snow falls late in the season in northern New Mexico, bringing substantial accumulations in the mountains and even some late-season snow in Santa Fe. And a little farther north, there was evena small wildfire started by a lightning bolt during a thundersnow event.

Memorial Day Weekend "Thunderslush" and Thundersnow in Southern Colorado, May 24 - I observe mixed winter precipitation and then all snow, both accompanied by thunder, between Pagosa Springs and Wolf Creek Pass. Late in the season, I finally get my first video in over a year of thunder with snow falling.

An interesting sidelight is that some of these weather systems produced both this kind of winter weather in the mountains and severe storms with hail and tornadoes on the plains just east of the mountains.



Return to 2013-14 Weather Weather Observation page