A friend sent me this picture a few weeks ago and today I felt a need to edit it for our big storm this week. While my street got off easy and looked a lot like this picture, other parts of the metro didn’t fare as well. South and west got enough heavy wet snow to bring down large, fully leafed out trees and branches. Here in Thornton a big creek flooded the park where a festival was to be held and it got canceled. But more interesting were the snow totals in the mountains along the route I usually drive to Estes Park. Up Boulder Canyon (closed at one point due to ice) to Nederland, where they only had a couple of feet. Farther north in Ward, it was over 3 feet. Still farther north, Allenspark (where I vacationed a lot) got 42 inches. And by the time you finally get to Estes … the local weather man simply announced, “Estes is closed.”
Some totals for those who have a particular interest:
Weather Service totals for May 19, 2017, as of 10:20 a.m.
Allenspark — 42 inches
Arapahoe Park — 2 inches
Arvada — 4.8 inches
Aspen Springs — 25.1 inches
Aurora — 2 inches
Bailey — 9 inches
Black Hawk — 11.3 inches
Boulder — 5.2 inches
Breckenridge — 26.2 inches
Brookvale — 19 inches
Broomfield — 4.8 inches
Castle Rock — 6 inches
Conifer — 11 inches
Denver — 0.0 inches
Eldorado Springs — 26 inches
Estes Park — 31 inches
Evergreen — 9.7 inches
Fort Collins — 7.4 inches
Four Corners — 13.5 inches
Frederick — 4 inches
Genesee — 17.7 inches
Golden — 30.6 inches
Greeley — 3.8 inches
Idledale — 11 inches
Ken Caryl — 3 inches
Lafayette — 6 inches
Longmont — 3 inches
Louisville — 6.5 inches
Loveland — 5.2 inches
Mead — 4 inches
Nederland — 30 inches
Niwot — 4 inches
Pinecliffe — 31.9 inches
Pine Junction — 9 inches
Rollinsville — 15.5 inches
Roxborough Park — 2.5 inches
Superior — 7.5 inches
Tabernash — 6.5 inches
Ward — 41.7 inches
Note it did not stop snowing at 10:20 a.m. It kept spitting and threatening and rather than keep pacing in anxiety over whether I could get to a doctor appointment the next morning in Aurora, I called and postponed. Naturally, then, virtually no snow fell along the route I’d have to drive. But I felt much better not having had to worry about it for another 12 hours. I’d already been stressing since the storm warnings began several days earlier.
Of course none of this would have been the least bit surprising a couple of months ago. But it happened on May 18!!
Rarely a dull moment here, weatherwise.
I know. You don’t care one bit about Colorado weather. But at least the story is nonpartisan and nonpolitical.
It’s not only Colorado. Weird weather has been the norm in many parts of the world. We haven’t had a full day of sunshine, or over 50F temperatures since October. Not what we, in the Pacific North West expect in spring!
What you describe sounds exactly like I picture the Pacific Northwest year ’round. I realize that’s a stereotype, but I’d rather have a lot more sunshine (between the snow storms).
The chaotic weather now reminded us that the historic force 5 tornado that tore through Joplin in 2011 occurred on May 22. Apparently chaos is the new normal.
Has it been 6 years already? Seems like just last year. I’ve read that climate change and global warming will manifest as more extremes in weather. Hope that doesn’t mean adding F6 to the Fujita scale. Maybe just more F5s. Oh goodie …
I know, right? I had the swamp cooler hooked up about 3 weeks ago and had used it a couple days. Then, for the past few nights, I’ve had to turn the heater a bit to get the chill out of the house. Crazy weather. Well, at least it’s not in the 90’s instead.
I’m surprised my thermostat hasn’t croaked by now from the constant switching from heat to a/c to heat. Happens every spring and fall, but snow this late is ridiculous.
ou’re welcome to it. 🙂
On the good side, we need the water.
Hadn’t thought of that.
Can you send a couple of “Indians” schooled in the art of the rain dance to help us out, along with some snow.
We will be getting some snow over the next three months down south, but not that much.
It’ll make a few people happy for a while
Not as much as it sounds like. The snowmelt flows downstream to other states. We only get to keep part of it.