A storm that dropped up to a foot of snow in the western Denver metro area through Saturday evening has mostly moved out of the state as forecasters warn that low temperatures are expected to stick around the Front Range well into Sunday.
“The majority of the weather is now out in Kansas and Oklahoma,” said Kyle Fredin, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Boulder. “It’s starting to slowly move out.”
Snow diminish from west to east tonight. Clearing & Cold overnight. A Freeze Warning is in effect for Tonight through 8am Sunday.
— NWS Boulder (@NWSBoulder)
Two inches of snow was recorded at Denver International Airport from the storm that hit the city on Friday night. Areas to the south and west of Denver saw the heaviest snowfall, with 10 inches in Littleton, 14 inches in Ken Caryl and 14 inches in Roxborough Park.
Genesee got 22 inches of snow while Tiny Town recorded 17 inches.
A freeze warning is in effect until 8 a.m. on Friday for Denver, the northern Front Range and all of northeastern Colorado. The National Weather Service in Boulder says most of those areas will have overnight lows in the mid-to-upper 20s, but some colder places will see temperatures drop to near 20 degrees.
Fredin said the snowfall helped raise April’s low precipitation levels, saying the month has been “on the dry side.”
“I think what most people are focusing on is the low amount of snowfall,” Fredin said. “We didn’t have much for February and March and the better part of April.”
Snow began falling along the Front Range on Friday evening, hitting the Palmer Divide area in the afternoon and downtown Denver by the evening commute.
The little accumulation in the city . Denver Public Works said it was out plowing main streets Friday night and Saturday.
There were several crashes on Friday night, forcing the closure of eastbound lanes of Interstate 70 at Silverthorne in Summit County, according to the Colorado Department of Transportation. Skiers on Saturday, which reported four inches of new snow and nearly two feet in the past week.
Not everyone was reveling in the spring storm, though.
The Rocky Ford Growers Association said its farmers were out Saturday inspecting their melon fields for damage. “The real danger is the below-freezing temps last night and tonight that can kill the delicate seedlings that have popped up from the first planting,” the organization said in a news release Saturday.
The grower’s association says farmers will have to replant any fields that don’t make it through the cold snap to make sure Rocky Ford’s cantaloupe can make it to market in mid-July.
Airlines were de-icing their planes on Saturday morning at Denver International Airport, but the hub said there were no major delays or cancellations because of the spring snowstorm. That’s despite issued late last week by United Airlines ahead of the weather system.
Airlines are deicing this morning but no major delays or cancellations due to weather. Please check with your airline.
— Denver Int'l Airport (@DENAirport)
The airport still was encouraging people to check their flight status with their airlines.
because of the wet and heavy snow.
.
