Spring Snain Storm
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On Thursday, 16 April, 2009, a meterological phenomenon moved slowly in to the Central High Plains. by Friday, the center of the low pressure system had settled into the general area around the borders of southeast Colorado, southwest Kansas, the western tip of the Oklahoma panhandle and the northeast corner of New Mexico.
It was a low pressure system. It was disassociated with the upper level jet stream. In this case, the jet stream was way to the north of this huge system. Low pressure means counter-clockwise rotation. Because the jet stream is to the north, it does not impact the growth of the system as it moves east. This allows the rotation to pull huge amounts of moisture off of the Gulf of Mexico and drag it up across Texas and Oklahoma, and then SLAM it up against the Front Range mountains.
It wasn't all turned into snow.....Below, say, 5,800 ft, the moisture fell as snow mixed with rain......SNAIN!
The aftermath, two days later....STUNNING!
It provided an injection of much needed moisture and it was not cold enough create a hard freeze. The tender buds and young plants were not frostbit!
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