Published: May 10,2015
Winter Storm Venus will continue to dump snow on parts of Colorado, Wyoming, western South Dakota and North Dakota through Monday morning.
(LATEST NEWS: Impacts from Venus)
Current Radar
The snow is being produced by a strong upper-atmospheric area of low pressure that is sliding east into the Plains from the interior West.
Snow accumulations from Venus are not just confined to the mountains. As of early Sunday evening, Denver International Airport had seen 4 inches of snow, while 9 inches was reported in nearby Aurora. In Rapid City, South Dakota, about a half foot of snow was reported. Up to 18 inches of snow was reported in the northwest Nebraska town of Chadron. Fort Robinson, Nebraska picked up two feet of snow.
Elsewhere, up to 17 inches was measured in the Black Hills of South Dakota as of Sunday morning. The National Weather Service in Riverton, Wyoming, said that 15-18 inches of snow was reported at Casper Mountain.
Late last week, Venus brought snow to the Sierra Nevada and the mountains of Southern California.
When, Where and How Much
Current Winter Weather Alerts
Sunday Night's Forecast
Monday's Forecast
Additional Snowfall
Sunday Overnight - Monday: Snow will wind down Sunday night in Wyoming, Colorado and southeast Montana and by early Monday morning in the western Dakotas. Snowy travel will likely linger into Monday in these areas. Some snow or a rain/snow mix may develop as far east as eastern North Dakota and far northern Minnesota.
Total snow accumulations over one foot seem likely over a swath of western South Dakota, as well as higher mountain elevations of Wyoming and northern Colorado. The northern Black Hills of western South Dakota may see accumulations up to 3 feet in spots, and even adjacent foothill locations such as Rapid City may pick up over a foot of total snowfall.
Some lower elevations of eastern Wyoming, southeast Montana and the western Dakotas may see at least 6 inches of wet snow.
(MAPS: Weekly Planner)
Are May Snow Storms Unusual?
Winter storms do still occur in May, especially in the West. Just last year Winter Storm Zephyr impacted the Rockies from May 10-13, Mother's Day weekend, with 43 inches of snow at Divide Peak in the Sierra Madre range of Wyoming.(MORE: Winter Storm Zephyr Recap)
Rapid City, South Dakota averages 1.1 inches of snow in May and has received snow in June, with the latest date of measurable snowfall being June 13, 1969.
Interestingly, according to the NWS-Rapid City NOWDATA database, the record May monthly snow in Rapid City is only 11.6 inches in 1950. So, this event has the potential to set a May record for the city. Already, 13.6 inches of snow has fallen in Rapid City during the life of Winter Storm Venus, which is the second largest May snowstorm, according to a tweet from the NWS in Rapid City.
An early May 2008 snowstorm deposited 11 inches of snow in Rapid City on May 2, 2008. That same snowstorm dumped an incredible 54.5 inches of snow in Lead, located in the northern Black Hills.
The average date for the last measurable snowfall (0.1 inches of snow or greater) in Cheyenne, Wyoming, is May 9, so this is not that unusual for the area. Casper, Wyoming, sees almost 3 inches of snow on average during the month of May.
In the Denver area, the average date for last measurable snowfall is April 27, so this is a little later than average. However, Denver has seen snow as late as June.
When digging into the record books, even one-foot snowfalls in a single May day are not as rare as you may think in this area.
Anchorage, Alaska-based meteorologist Brian Brettschneider found dozens of locations not just in the mountain West, but also in lower elevations from the High Plains of Montana and the Dakotas to even northwest Kansas and the Texas panhandle that have picked up over a foot of snow on any calendar day after May 5.
Brettschneider found a station near Lusk, Wyoming once measured 36 inches of snow in a single day on May 10, 1922. Three feet...on May 10!
So, while parts of the nation are dealing with severe thunderstorms, snowthrowers and snow plows will be busy in the Rockies and High Plains, on Mother's Day weekend.
MORE: Photos From Winter Storm Venus
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