Is there a state with more diverse weather than Colorado?

[Hannah.Taylor]

Is there any state with more diverse weather conditions than Colorado?

Blizzards, hail deep enough to look like snow, tornadoes, landspouts, earthquakes, sleet, dirt/dust devils, dust storms, torrential rain, rainbows, wildfires, microbursts, monsoons, droughts, heat lightning, wildfire/smoke created thunderstorms, 100 year floods, mudslides, freezing fog, rock slides, derecho's, mountain flash flooding, graupel, Northern Lights, freezing rain, flash freezes, Chinook winds and I'm sure there's still plenty of other weather anomalies that ate unique to Colorado I forgot to mention.

Landspouts have formed here with 35° dewpoints before. Tornadoes have formed at 10,000+ feet numerous times this month alone in Park County, CO, also on Evans and Pikes Peaks in the recent past.

The only things we don't have here are Typhoons, Tsunami's and Hurricanes. We even have a volcano that is dormant at the moment but not sure that is really considered "weather", more geological in nature as opposed to atmospheric (as are earthquakes which I mentioned above.)

What an incredible weather smorgasboard of a state.


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[John Farley]

You forgot my favorite - thundersnow!

 

[Ethan Lang]

One could argue Oregon. However, I will argue that with the Denver Cyclone Colorado could be the second most tornado prone state in the US

 

[John Farley]

Colorado gets my vote. Not too many states where you can get this, and as others have noted, tornadoes, too. This picture was taken this evening form Pagosa Springs, looking toward the San Juans. And two days ago, I got thundersnow.

 

[Jeff House]

California might have more temperature extremes, but Colorado probably tops with more severe.

 

[Warren Faidley]

I think Texas might win. Tropical weather along the Gulf (Colorado has zero), hail, lightning, snow, bitter cold, deadly wildfires, dust storms, massive flooding, big hail, wind, etc. And, according to the USGS, Texas has more earthquakes, 22 vs. 7 from 2010 to 2015. Looking at WCM data, Texas wipes out Colorado for number of overall (all types) of severe weather warnings, with the exception of **maybe** heavy snow and / or blizzards.

 

[ELY M.]

Minnesota would be good if you include northern lights.

 

[James K]

I don't know if Colorado has the most diverse weather conditions in the US, but I'd think its somewhere near the top..

And I certainly enjoy the fact we have a wide range of weather here.

 

[Marshall Stoner]

Not as much severe weather as the plains, but the western UP of Michigan extending into Northeast Minnesota is one of the few regions in the country that gets both extreme cold and deep snowcover in winter and heat and humidity with occasional severe weather in summer. It's also wild, sparsely populated, and full of natural beauty.

I think South Dakota is also a contender with it's diversity of both weather and terrain.

 

[Todd Lemery]

 

[Russell Jones]

Here in Minnesota we could give you guys a run for your money. Here are some stats from our State:

1. Maximum low temp: -60 degrees F.
2. Maximum High temp 114 F.
3. In 1987 we had 17" of rain fall in 8 hours.
4. In 1991 we had 28" of snow fall on Halloween.
5. We've had 110 MPH + winds recorded during Derechos.
6. A few years back we were the only State all season to record an EF-5 Tornado.
7. During dry years we've had huge forest fires.
8. We are currently experiencing near record flooding of our river banks.
9. We've had the only Landcane (Hurricane form over land) ever known! Yes folks we had a low pressure system form where the BP was as low as a CAT-3 Hurricane cross our State!
10. We had an EF-3 Tornado hit followed by 13" of snow 1984 (same storm).
11. We get rock slides in some areas.
12. We have Surfing on Lake Superior during major winter storms when it's -20 F out. It's true! You have to have a wet suit.
13. We've had spontaneous lake gas explosions happen on our lakes occasionally.
14. We've had thunderstorms with continuous lightning flashes.
15. We've had thunderstorms with continuous thunder rumbling.
16. I've seen huge dust devils with 60 MPH winds.
17. The northwestern part of our State can get small earthquakes 3 to 4+ on the Richter scale.
18. We've had giant Sink Holes swallow houses!
19. Hail the size of Softballs.
20. We've had heat waves in summer that buckle the roadways.
21. We've had cold spells in winter that cover our roadways with Black Ice (frozen car exhaust)
22. We've had Landspouts and Waterspouts.
23. We've had tornadoes while snow is still on the ground!
24. One year we had 80 degrees F in March while there was still over a foot of snow on the ground.
25. We've had dew points has high as the low 80's, and humidity has low as the lower teens of a percent.

We do all this without any mountains, and we don't have any Volcanoes.

 

[Lawrence Burkett]

Here in Minnesota we could give you guys a run for your money. Here are some stats from our State:

1. Maximum low temp: -60 degrees F.
2. Maximum High temp 114 F.
3. In 1987 we had 17" of rain fall in 8 hours.
4. In 1991 we had 28" of snow fall on Halloween.
5. We've had 110 MPH + winds recorded during Derechos.
6. A few years back we were the only State all season to record an EF-5 Tornado.
7. During dry years we've had huge forest fires.
8. We are currently experiencing near record flooding of our river banks.
9. We've had the only Landcane (Hurricane form over land) ever known! Yes folks we had a low pressure system form where the BP was as low as a CAT-3 Hurricane cross our State!
10. We had an EF-3 Tornado hit followed by 13" of snow 1984 (same storm).
11. We get rock slides in some areas.
12. We have Surfing on Lake Superior during major winter storms when it's -20 F out. It's true! You have to have a wet suit.
13. We've had spontaneous lake gas explosions happen on our lakes occasionally.
14. We've had thunderstorms with continuous lightning flashes.
15. We've had thunderstorms with continuous thunder rumbling.
16. I've seen huge dust devils with 60 MPH winds.
17. The northwestern part of our State can get small earthquakes 3 to 4+ on the Richter scale.
18. We've had giant Sink Holes swallow houses!
19. Hail the size of Softballs.
20. We've had heat waves in summer that buckle the roadways.
21. We've had cold spells in winter that cover our roadways with Black Ice (frozen car exhaust)
22. We've had Landspouts and Waterspouts.
23. We've had tornadoes while snow is still on the ground!
24. One year we had 80 degrees F in March while there was still over a foot of snow on the ground.
25. We've had dew points has high as the low 80's, and humidity has low as the lower teens of a percent.

We do all this without any mountains, and we don't have any Volcanoes.

List of Minnesota weather records - Wikipedia

 

[William Kucharski]

To add to the fun:

 

[Lawrence Burkett]

Not as much severe weather as the plains, but the western UP of Michigan extending into Northeast Minnesota is one of the few regions in the country that gets both extreme cold and deep snowcover in winter and heat and humidity with occasional severe weather in summer. It's also wild, sparsely populated, and full of natural beauty.

I think South Dakota is also a contender with it's diversity of both weather and terrain.

Event Summaries

 

[John Farley]

There's nothing quite like Colorado weather! This morning (May 21, mind you!) I woke up to about an inch and a third of fresh snow. Then this afternoon the storm in the second picture rolled in, with 1/2-inch hail mixed with graupel/snow pellets, then all graupel/snow pellets, then about 20 minutes of ordinary snow. With the wind howling the whole time. And lots and lots of places in Colorado, from Denver to Durango and from Cortez to Colorado Springs, got more snow then we did. And that is not even counting the mountains, where some places got a foot and a half, in many cases accented by thunder and lightning.