“How much snow am I going to get?”
It’s usually the first question any meteorologist will get about an upcoming snowstorm. But if snow is in the forecast, the main thing you should probably ask instead is: “When is it going to snow?”
Most of the Denver area only saw about 1 to 3 inches of snow Monday morning, but a “volume of accidents” were reported on area roadways, Denver International Airport briefly had a ground stop, and a large swath of the metro area was placed under accident alert. And yes, that all came from “only” an inch or two of snow.
A layer of ice underneath the morning snowfall created additional issues and headaches for commuters on Monday. But the primary cause for Monday morning’s travel woes across the metro area was simply the timing of the snow and ice.
Some of the United States’ most famous snow-related traffic disasters came from just an inch or two of snowfall — think about due to just an inch of snow, and Atlanta’s famous 2014 “Snow Jam” came from only 2 inches of snow. It’s often as a result of when that snows, rather than how much actually fell.
You might even remember last month here in Denver, when another morning commute was seriously hampered by a relatively light amount of overall snowfall.
Schools and businesses will typically close ahead of a major snowstorm, for example, ahead of an anticipated 6 inches or more. But those decisions are often made based on the amount of expected snowfall, rather than the possible societal impacts from it.
If it only snows an inch, but it happens during a burst of heavier snowfall right in the middle of a commute, that’ll probably have a greater impact on commuters than several inches of overnight snowfall.
In addition to the amount of snow that might fall, it’s worth placing added emphasis on when that snow might fall, particularly if it might impact a weekday commute. timing on any winter weather alerts for an idea if a commute could be impacted or not.
