It’s May 1 – and what better way to welcome the month than with a spring snowstorm?
A cold front moved in late Tuesday, bringing rain and snow to the Front Range and northern mountains.
"The heaviest snow was up to the north last night,” says National Weather Service meteorologist Jim Kalina. “There was a band up north, toward the Fort Collins-Loveland area. Fort Collins had about 9 inches of snow overnight. Loveland had 13 inches, and Estes Park had 13 also."
The , including 18 inches for Cameron Pass and 14 up on Trail Ridge.
As a result, schools in the Thompson and Poudre districts were closed Wednesday, and Estes Park has delayed the opening of administrative buildings until noon.
There have been a few power outages reported in Northern Colorado, including the KUNC main transmitter site, resulting in 91.5fm being off the air. Poudre Valley REA customers can . Update 4:05 p.m. - Power has been restored to KUNC's transmitter and 91.5fm is once again back on the air.
All morning, reports and pictures of heavy snow, slick roads, and breaking tree branches have flooded social media.
Wow! Lots of in Estes! MT @EstesTownAdm: about 14", more on west side. Lots of power outages.
— Erin O'Toole 🧜♀️ (@ErinOtoole1)
Counted about 30 branches down between City Park and the Coloradoan HQ on Riverside.
— Robert Allen (@boboradoan)
6 to 8 inches of in north east for collins
— megan kaye (@meg_kaye)
And maybe a complaint or two.
Go home Colorado, you're drunk. You don't even know what month it is anymore.
— Sarah Fredrick (@sasafred)
It is not supposed to snow in May. If I say that enough, I'm hoping that it goes away.
— Natalie (@natstev)
So how strange is a May snowstorm for Northern Colorado? Jim Kalina isn’t all that surprised.
"They’re not too common, but they’re not too unusual either," Kalina says. "We’ve had several snows during the month of May. The heaviest we’ve ever had in May was 11.5 inches in one day – that was May 5, 1917. So… it’s been a while."
More recently, Kalina says a few May storms dumped snow on the Front Range in the 1980s, including 7.1 inches May 17, 1983.