Winter, 2015-16

Observations of Major Winter Storms and Interesting Weather Phenomena


Four Days of Wild Weather in Southwest Colorado - April 29-May 2 - Two closed low pressure systems drift through the Southwest, bringing all kinds of wild weather to Pagosa Country. This includes a thunderstorm with hail, graupel, and snow, 20 inches of snow in the mountains and lesser amounts in town, a hailstorm with the sun shining, and spectacular evening thundersnow storms in the mountains. This report includes a detailed account of the four days, lots of pictures, and video clips of lightning and thunder with graupel falling, and of hail up to dime-sized coming down with the sun shining.

April 15-19 Multi-Day Storm in Colorado - A low pressure system gets cut off over Colorado for several days, producing a wide variety of weather. Locally, I observed heavy snow, a thundersnow squall (though I was moving in the car when the thunder apparently happened), and another squall that produced hail, graupel (snow pellets), and ordinary snow, all in less than five minutes. In other parts of Colorado, the storm produced weather ranging from photogenic tornadoes to more than 50 inches of snow. This report offers a bit of a mix of what I observed and what happened elsewhere in the state, with a nunmber of photos and Web links.

March 8, 2016 San Jose NM Thundersnow Chase - I intercept a localized thundersnow storm near San Jose, NM, between Santa Fe and Las Vegas, NM and manage to catch ligtning and thunder, including a couple CG bolts, with snow and graupel falling lightly along the eastern edge of the storm. Includes pictures, video, and detailed account.



This page last updated May 3, 2016.

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