May Kicks Off With Snow and Cold

This spring has been especially frustrating for those itching to leave Ol' Man Winter behind.

Here we are flipping the calendar to May and we still can't remove the "S" word from our vocabulary just yet. That's right, more snow is headed for the central United States on the heels of what was a very wintry April.

(APRIL SNOWSTORMS: Walda | Xerxes | Yogi | Zeus)

Highs Wednesday

Thanks to bullish, blocking high pressure aloft over the eastern Great Lakes northward into Labrador (eastern Canada), a dip in the jet stream, or trough, will dig into the nation's heartland, then get blocked and end up closing off into a vigorous, nearly-stationary closed low.

The first effect of this will be a return of stubborn, chilly air to the Plains.

(MORE: Extreme Temperature Drops this Week)

Mid-to-late-week highs in the 40s, possibly even 30s in some spots, can be expected in parts of the Plains and Midwest, not to mention the Front Range of the Rockies. 

(HIGHS: Wed. | Thu. | Fri. | Sat.)

That fresh cold air will set the stage for what will be a snowy couple of days from the Front Range of the Rockies to parts of the Plains and Midwest.

More Rockies, Midwest Snow Ahead

Tracking The Storm

Snow Forecast

Tracking The Storm

Tracking The Storm

• Rockies Snow - Denver, Colo. andCheyenne, Wyo. are a couple of the cities that will see snow with a cold front diving southTuesday night into Wednesday. Amounts could top a foot in portions of Wyoming! Parts of the Denver metro area could pick up 6 inches or more. This comes after an April where snowfall was 20 inches above average in Cheyenne and 11 inches above average in Denver.
• Plains, Midwest Snow Too? - Wednesday night through Thursday, portions of the Plains and Upper Midwest near the closed upper-low could see some wet snow. Parts of Minnesota, western Wisconsin, Iowa and Nebraska seem most likely to see this, but flakes could also fly in Kansas, and even Missouri, where accumulating snow is extremely rare in May. Our most reliable computer models are even putting northern Oklahoma in play for some light snow - stay tuned! Minneapolis,Rochester, Minn., Sioux City, Iowa andOmaha, Neb. are a few of the cities we'll be watching Wednesday night through Thursday for this snow potential.
• Heavy Rain Threat -  Lastly, ahead of this closed low, an expansive band of heavy rainfall may set up from the Deep South into the Midwest. Water-logged parts of Missouri and Illinois will need to pay special attention to this possibility.

This is a very complicated forecast scenario. Therefore, exact forecast details are still highly uncertain, so check back with us as we refine this forecast.

Suffice to say, this will be a rather wild weather pattern for early May.

 http://www.weather.com/news/weather-forecast/may-cold-ahead-20130426