A deep atmospheric trough, extending south to the Mexican border, covers the western third of the U.S. this morning. Within the trough, cool, cloudy conditions are widespread and snow is falling at the higher elevations.
It looks and feels more like March than May here in Metro Denver and I would not be surprised if we get some flurries overnight. Indeed, a low pressure center down in New Mexico is producing a counterclockwise, westward, upslope flow along the Front Range, an atmospheric feature typical of spring snowstorms.
Thunderstorms have ignited in the Southern Plains, along the eastern edge of the trough. There, the cool air within the trough clashes with the warm air at its rim and the jet stream creates wind shear as it interacts with lower level, moisture-laden winds from the southeast.
