Greetings from Silverton -
On Friday afternoon and evening, June 13, we experienced event D9-WY2014, only our second logged June dust storm since beginning our observations back in 2003. This was not a major dust storm but visibility was nonetheless substantially reduced here in Silverton on very strong SW'ly winds doing tree damage here in town. Although we are in the final stages of snowmelt, and snow albedo was quite low already, this event did add an increment of dust-on-dust to the remaining alpine snowcover.
Yesterday (Saturday June 14) we also experienced strong SW'ly winds but only observed a minor haze ... not enough to constitute a dust storm comparable to the Friday, D9 event.
Strong SW'ly winds will redevelop each day this week in advance of a significant weather system in the northern Rockies. That system is due to impact Colorado on Tuesday/Wednesday - models differ on the timing, but not on the eventual arrival. That system may create yet another opportunity for a dust storm for western Colorado, as well as some fresh snowfall dropping to mountain pass elevations. Cold air associated with that system will be short-lived, however, and temps will quickly rebound later in the week and next weekend.
More soon,
Chris Landry