Winter Storm Xylia is forecast to build into quite the epic winter storm and snow event in the Central Rockies and northern Great Plains this weekend and early next week. The image below shows the predicted distribution and probabilities of 72-hour accumulations of snow greater than 4 inches, highlighting large areas of Colorado, Wyoming, and portions of Nebraska, South Dakota, Minnesota and Iowa.
Some portions of the Central Rockies are forecast to receive a tremendous amount of snow, in some cases upward of 2-3 feet. The image below shows the predicted distribution and probabilities of 72-hour accumulations of snow greater than 18 inches, highlighting areas of central Colorado and southeastern Wyoming.
Although this storm is occurring early in the migration season relative to peak movements, numerous birds are already on the move in many areas. This storm will certainly affect the progress and distribution of these birds, especially birds typical of open terrestrial habitats (e.g. Killdeer, Tree Swallow, sparrows, larks, longspurs). Watch for potential large concentrations of these birds in areas free of snow, as well as possible facultative or reverse movements of some species to avoid snow covered areas.
For those of you that can safely observe from your location, please submit your observations to eBird so we can better understand the local and regional dynamics of bird movements relative to an extreme event such as heavy, late winter snow early in the “spring” migration period.
