Even Temperature Contrasts are Bigger in Texas!

While snowstorms in April are not uncommon, Winter Storm Walda has certainly produced its share of odd weather.

An incredible temperature contrast across the state of Texas on April 9, 2013.

(FORECAST: Tracking Winter Storm Walda)

The driving distance from Dalhart, Texas, in the northern Texas Panhandle, to Laredo, along the Rio Grande River, is roughly 750 miles, or just over 11 hours.

That said, an incredible temperature contrast set up on April 9.

Just before midnight, Dalhart bottomed out at 22 degrees behind a plunging cold front. For perspective, the all-time April record low, there, is 17 degrees.

In Laredo, the daytime high was 108 degrees. Last year, Laredo didn't warm to 108 degrees or warmer until June 10.

That makes an 86 degree temperature contrast across the state of Texas on April 9.

Let's explore more oddities of Winter Storm Walda, starting with an epic snowstorm.

Record-setting Snowfall

(iWitnessWeather/fmjnathan)

The epicenter for the heaviest snowfall from Winter Storm Walda was in the Black Hills of South Dakota. Not unusual for an April storm.

In this case, it was the snowfall rate that was very impressive.

At the Rapid City, S.D. airport, 20 inches of snow fell on April 9. That set a new calendar-day snowfall record for that location, topping April 18, 1970 (15.6"). Records at the airport only date to 1942, however.

The final snowstorm total at the airport site was 28.2 inches, which also blew away the record heaviest snowstorm at that site (previously 18" on Apr. 22, 2001).

A much longer period of record is in place for Downtown Rapid City. There, the storm total of 22.4 inches was the second heaviest snowstorm on record, there, topped only by a 32.1 inch snowstorm from April 12-15, 1927.

If you melt down the snow, the 1.21 inches of "liquid equivalent" precipitation on April 9 was the single "wettest" calendar day in Rapid City since May 19, 2011. Certainly desperately needed for drought relief.

Due to the heavy snow in the west, and ice to the east, a roughly 350-mile stretch of Interstate 90 was shut down from Rapid City to Sioux Falls.

Winter Storm Walda also had an icy component, amazingly far south.

April Freezing Rain...Southern Style!

At left: Doppler radar just before 7am CT Apr. 10, 2013 showing areas of freezing rain from northwest Texas to South Dakota. At right: Ice storm photo from Apr. 9 in Sioux Falls, S.D. (Photo credit: iWitnessWeather contributor stevensue).

The ice storm photo at right is not unusual, for, say, January or February.

A more "typical" April storm might have a sliver of heavy, wet snow on the northwest or western periphery of the storm's precipitation shield. So, precipitation types are most often either rain or wet snow.

The above right photo was taken in Sioux Falls, S.D., where significant icing downed tree limbs on April 9. That would be unusual enough.

Then, on April 10, freezing rain broke out from northwest Texas into Oklahoma and points north. One quarter inch of ice in trees was observed in Weatherford and Enid, Okla.

Light icingwas even reported byKFDX in Wichita Falls, Texas early on April 10. Oddly enough, this was on the anniversary of the 1979 "Terrible Tuesday" F4 tornado in the city.

According to Rick Smith, Warning Coordination Meteorologist at the National Weather Service Forecast Office in Norman, Oklahoma, the April 10, 2013 freezing rain event in Oklahoma City was the second latest freezing rain/freezing drizzle event in the spring in records dating to 1930. The only later event, there, was Apr. 17-18, 1953.

In this case, the polar cold front was so strong, and the upper-level trough remainedanchored over the southern Rockies, such that precipitation that would more typically be rain, was occurring behind the front as freezing rain.

We'll have more on the ice later.

It gets even weirder. Let's delve into large hail falling with cold surface temperatures.

Hail in the 20s or teens!

Screen capture of The Weather Channel winter weather radar with a severe thunderstorm warning in central Nebraska on Apr. 9, 2013. (Photo credit: Alex Wallace)

We're all used to severe thunderstorms on days with warm and humid air in place.

It's not unusual for severe thunderstorms with large hail north of a warm front, as elevated instability can support the growth of large hailstones even if the surface air is "relatively cool".

What we saw with Winter Storm Walda, however, was amazing.

Grand Island, Neb. and Hays, Kan. reported hail up to nickel-size with surface temperatures around 28 degrees.There were several reports of tornadoes near Akron, Colo. the evening of April 8. Following a peak wind gust to 79 mph, surface temperatures crashed through the 40s into the 30s on the eastern Plains of Colorado that evening.One location in central Nebraska reported hail with a surface temperature of 18 degrees!

At those temperatures, you would expect to shovel snow, not hail!

Not surprisingly, we saw some record-smashing cold. Let's begin in Wyoming.

Three Temperature Records Set

The Wyoming state capital of Cheyenne had a high temperature of only 12 degrees on Tuesday during the early morning hours. This is the third lowest April high temperature in Cheyenne weather records dating back to 1871. Late on Tuesday night, the low temperature dipped to a daily record low for April 9th of 6 degrees.

Cheyenne set a third temperature record early Wednesday morning with a daily record low for April 10 of 5 degrees. On top of these three temperature records, Cheyenne also picked up 9 inches of snow and had wind gusts up to 42 mph.

Subzero temperatures invaded another Wyoming city.

Subzero Cold in Laramie

Laramie resident John Waggener brushes the snow from the roof of his car after enjoying dinner at a downtown restaurant in Laramie, Wyo., Tuesday, April 9, 2013.

(AP Photo/Laramie Boomerang, Jeremy Martin)

Temperatures fell below zero in the southeast Wyoming town of Laramie right before midnight on Tuesday.

By early Wednesday morning, Laramie had bottomed out at 5 degrees below zero, setting a new daily record low for April 10. This also ties as the seventh coldest April low temperature in Laramie weather records dating back to 1948.

A bit farther south, the Mile-High City illustrated its reputation for big temperature swings - setting records along the way.

Classic Mile-High City Temperature Swing

Denver is known for its wild temperature swings and Walda presented yet another case.

After a high of 71 degrees on Monday at 2 p.m. EDT, the temperature had fallen to 22 degrees by midnight Tuesday. That 22-degree temperature reading at midnight ended up being the high temperature for Tuesday, which ties as the sixth coldest April high temperature on record. The low on Tuesday fell all the way to 9 degrees late in the evening, which set a new daily record low for April 9.

The Mile-High City set yet another temperature record on Wednesday morning with a daily record low of 6 degrees for April 10. In addition, this 6 degree temperature reading ties as the fourth coldest April low temperature in Denver weather records dating back to 1872.

Our next oddity from Walda occurred in eastern Nebraska.

Damaging Hail in the 30s

Hailstones from Omaha iWitness Weather contributor WNS1.

Very large hail in the Plains is not uncommon during the spring. What is unusual in this case is that Omaha, Neb. saw very large hailstones up to two inches in diameter with temperatures in the middle 30s on Tuesday evening! Not the kind of temperatures you would expect to see with hail this large.

The hail caused damage to roofs, cars and windshields according to this article from the Omaha World-Herald.

We head back to Texas where one town went from sweating to shivering in hours.

90s to Freezing Rain and Sleet!

Rapid City, S.D.

Snow and wind create poor visibility on Tuesday, April 9, 2013, as a man walks along a street in Rapid City, S.D. (AP Photo/Rapid City Journal, Chris Huber)

Above: Images from Winter Storm Walda

Ahead of the cold front associated with Winter Storm Walda, Abilene, Texas saw temperatures rise all the way to 93 degrees around 4 p.m. CDT Tuesday. Just eight hours later near midnight, the temperature had plummeted to 37 degrees. By Wednesday morning, Abilene was reporting freezing rain and thunder.

Late Wednesday morning, the National Weather Service in San Angelo, Texas, mentioned reports of light sleet and freezing rain accumulations on elevated or grassy surfaces, "but the roads seem to be in pretty good order thanks to yesterday's 90s."

Finally, let's end in another city whose April day was colder than most winter days.

Only January Was Colder

Map of current temperatures on Apr. 10, 2013 at 6:45 a.m. MDT.

We've touched on the cold in a couple of other Wyoming cities earlier.

In Casper, Wyo., April 9, 2013, the "high" temperature topped out at a mere 13 degrees. This set a new record coldest daily high temperature for April, dating to 1939. The old record coldest April high, there, was 16 degrees on April 11, 1997 and April 2, 1945.

During the winter of 2012-2013, only three January days in Casper had high temperatures colder than April 9. In fact, no February 2013 day in Casper featured a colder high temperature than what was observed on April 9.

Still not impressed? Casper's high temperature matched that of Fairbanks, Alaska on April 9. And Fairbanks was in a cold snap itself! Their high of 13 degrees was three degrees colder than their average low for the day!

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New Haven, Conn.

A neighborhood near New Haven, Conn., is buried in snow in the aftermath of a storm that hit Connecticut and much of New England. (AP Photo/Craig Ruttle)