Biggest May snowstorm in over two-decades… ya know I am ALWAYS down for a good snowstorm, but there’s something about being in one in MAY that just adds a little something extra. This storm boasted some impressive totals for May, coming in at the highest May snowstorm since 2003, and oddly enough was the SECOND biggest snowstorm of this season (a bar that was oh-so-low coming in). The 5.8″ recorded officially for Denver was about half of what the western burbs saw; me measuring just over 7 inches total (which likely was lower than the actual total given melting/compacting). And with temperatures just at or even slightly ABOVE freezing for the most part, roads remaining largely wet as opposed to icy or snowpacked, which likely aided in keeping travel impacts down at lower elevations. Higher elevations had much bigger issues, and over 2′ of snow was measured in many areas up at elevation, so a DESPERATELY needed storm for all areas. I clocked in with just under an inch of liquid storm total, and I will take every hundredth it had to offer.
This storm was a branch breaker, a very HEAVY, wet snow piled onto leafed trees and the carnage was all over Denver. Most of my coverage focused in northwest Denver (Westminster, Arvada, Broomfield, etc), and it was hard to find a street that wasn’t littered with tree debris. This was always gonna be the main impact from this, and it turned out to be true. Actually, this was pretty well forecasted; longer range models had this pegged over a week out, at least in terms of a potential snowstorm, and in the days leading up to it, hit it pretty good. The numbers were on par with what was forecasted, and the impacts were similar. But the bottom line, the moisture, for both higher and lower elevations, was much needed and well delivered. I think that is the overall consensus among the Front Range folks as this storm departs.
