With the unofficial start of summer this weekend, it’s already shaping up to be one of extremes, from unusually strong, early-season tornadoes that hit the Eastern Plains to a rapidly melting snowpack in the high country.
At least the three-day Memorial Day holiday weekend isn’t looking too bad, if you don’t mind the chance of rain, according to Denver7 Chief Meteorologist Lisa Hidalgo.
“I know everyone wants me to tell you it's going to be perfect and not rainy or stormy; unfortunately, no,” Hidalgo said. “So there will be a chance for some storms Saturday, especially on Sunday, it looks to be a little soggy. Memorial Day, though it looks like things clear out and it looks a little better then.”
The start of summer also means the start of severe weather season. On Sunday, May 18, four tornadoes were confirmed on Colorado’s eastern plains, in addition to a downspout in Aurora. No one was killed, but more than 30 homes were damaged or destroyed in and near Bennett and Elizabeth.
Hidalgo says the intensity of the tornadoes was unusual. But so was their timing.
“So we're talking wind speeds over 111 miles per hour, between 111 and 135 miles per hour. I mean, that is strong. We don't typically see tornadoes that strong, not only here in Colorado, but across the country,” Hidalgo said. “It's just a combination of the humidity we had, the moisture, the instability with the heat of that day. But that was a pretty strong one and pretty early in the season, those tornadoes for us here. Things are ramping up now that we're getting into mid and late May, but that’s still pretty early in the season to see it that close to the metro area and that strong.”
Hidalgo says the height of tornado season in Colorado is mid-to-late June into early July. On average, about 50 tornadoes hit the state each year, generally in the afternoons and early evenings, between 1 and 8 pm.
As for the snowpack, Hidalgo says levels statewide have dropped to about 50 percent of normal, with rapid snowmelt across the state. “Our southwest Colorado river basins saw below normal snowpack levels for most of the 2024-2025 ski season. That, combined with warmer-than-normal temperatures over the past couple of months, has led to some rapid snowmelt.”
Hidalgo added that the upper Colorado River basins are in decent shape for this time of year, but that the overall snowpack percentage statewide is quite a bit lower due to conditions in the San Juan, Dolores, and San Miguel basins.
She said the trend of a faster-than-normal snowmelt is becoming more common across several western states.
As for the start of summer, while Memorial Day weekend is traditionally the “unofficial” start of the season, the astronomical start is June 20 — the summer solstice, and the meteorological start is June 1.
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