May 18, 2026 - Mountain Storm with Blowing Dust, Blowing Snow, and a Close-up Snow Devil
Wolf Creek Pass, Colorado

by John Farley


On May 18, 2026, I had decided to skip the long drive to Kansas or Nebraska to chase tornadoes. Given the distance northeast from my location and the reports of massive chaser crowds and traffic jams, I am very happy with this decision. Also, where there would not be tornadoes, there were opportunities to observe interesting weather much closer to home. Conditions looked at least marginally conducive for thundersnow, as a band of mountain show showers would set up in western Colorado and impact the Wolf Creek Pass area from mid-morning to early afternoon. What ended up as a short-lived but windy snowstorm for the area around the pass was part of the same system that caused tornadoes far off to the northeast in Kansas, Nebraska, and Missouri the same day. Specificly, these gusty snow showers formed ahead of a strong cold front on the back side of the storm, extending southward from low pressure in northern Colorado. They were convective in nature, as can be seen in the following picture, though it was not especially deep convection, even by the standard of convective snow showers. Here is a picture from the parking lot of the Wolf Creek Ski Area showing the updraft base and some precipiation (snow and graupel) begommomg to fall

I did not get any thunder with the snow, but the trip up to the pass proved more than worth the effort. This snow devil formed right next to my car at Wolf Creek Pass. It is the closest video I have ever gotten of a snow devil:

In addition to the snow devil, high wind that occurred with the band of high-mountain snow brought some pretty intense blowing dust and blowing snow to the area around Wolf Creek Pass during the late morning and mid-day hours. At least 4 severe-level gusts (58+ mph) were measured during the time I was up there hoping for thundersnow, with a peak gust of 63 mph at the Wolf Creek Pass (KCPW) automated weather station. The station is at the Lobo Overlook, near the top of the ridge in the background near the end of the video, so the gusts may have been a bit stronger up there, but they were not much less where I was. Had there been thunder, this would have qualified as a severe thunderstorm, with snow. As it was, I was able to get video of blowing dust, blowing snow, and sometimes both together. No thundersnow, but well worth the trip up for what is in this video and the other one I linked above of a close-up snow devil.

Here is a video frame capture from the burst of blowing snow, showing just how the visibility got for a time:

Although 1-3 inches of snow had been predicted for the area around Wolf Creek Pass, the storm was a bit slower to arrive than originally anticipated, and despite the intense wind, did not produce the predicted amount of snow. It did accumulate around 1/2 to 3/4 inch on grassy areas, and accumulated enough to cover US 160 near the pass with snow and slush for a short time. Plows were out and made quick work of that, though.

Total chase distance: about 60 miles (a lot less than the drive to northern Kansas and back!)

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