A late spring storm dumped a blanket of heavy, wet snow on Colorado’s Front Range overnight Wednesday, knocking out power to tens of thousands, causing widespread tree damage, closing schools and delaying flights — and then mostly melting, all within 24 hours.
Snow flurries tapered off across the region on Wednesday afternoon, leaving folks to clear fallen branches and shake snow from bowed over tree limbs in the sunshine.
Although , most weather spotters reported about 6 inches, with the low end less than 3 inches in Lincoln Park and the high end approaching 11 inches in Ken Caryl.
Spotters near Evergreen reported nearly 15 inches, and gauges in Rocky Mountain National Park recorded almost 3 feet of snow near Bear Lake, southwest of Estes Park, according to the National Weather Service.
Late-season snowstorms aren’t exactly uncommon, but ones of this size are, meteorologist Kenley Bonner said. The weather service’s records go back into the 1800s, and only a handful of significant storms have been observed during that time, she said.
This week’s snow doesn’t quite make the list of — the city’s official snowfall was 5.8 inches at Denver International Airport on Wednesday — but it’s the biggest May snow in years, Bonner said. The last measurable May snow recorded in Denver was 0.3 inches on May 21, 2022, she said.
The storm cut power to more than 75,000 Xcel Energy customers, and crews had restored electricity to the majority of customers as of Wednesday evening.
There were 17,846 customers still without power as of 6:30 p.m., according to the utility’s outage map.
“Some repairs will extend into tomorrow, and we anticipate that all customers who can safely receive power will be restored by Thursday,” in a statement.
Despite the relatively quick melt, the snow was enough to cause transportation headaches for Interstate 70 drivers when two jackknifed tractor-trailers closed the eastbound highway on Vail Pass for two hours Wednesday morning.
Storm-related visibility problems and deicing , with airlines reporting 456 delays and 36 cancellations by Wednesday evening, according to the flight tracking website FlightAware.
The storm also brought one final snow day for many Denver-area students after some of Colorado’s largest school districts canceled classes Wednesday, including in Aurora, Boulder, Denver and Douglas and Jefferson counties.
This was probably the Denver area’s last snow of the season, weather service forecasters said. Despite freezing temperatures expected late Wednesday into early Thursday, temperatures could hit a high 80s as soon as Monday.
