Snowstorm Brings Critically Needed Moisture To Colorado
DENVER (CBS4) - It may be bitterly cold outside but Colorado really needed this storm! It's been the biggest snow event since last March in the Denver metro area with 3 to 6 inches of snow on average. Meanwhile the approximately 400,000 acres of land where the Cameron Peak and East Troublesome fires are burning received at least a foot of snow on average.
The specific snow totals from inside the fire perimeters will not be known until later in the day on Monday. But based on snow reports from just outside the fire boundaries including in Granby, Estes Park, and Drake the estimate is up to 20 inches has smothered the Cameron Peak fire in Larimer County and up to 15 inches has fallen on the East Troublesome fire in Grand County. As of early Monday morning, fire officials had reported zero additional fire growth since the snow started Saturday night.
Snow totals elsewhere were also impressive including more than a foot of snow on the northwest side of Fort Collins. Boulder had closer to 10 inches of snow.
Denver officially received 3.6 inches at DIA from Saturday night through Monday morning. It was a rare occurrence of the airport getting about the same amount of snow as most of the metro area.
As the snow ends Monday morning, attention will turn to the bitterly cold temperatures. Especially for October! High temperatures along the Front Range will stay in the mid and upper teens Monday afternoon. That's about 45 degrees below normal for this time of year.
And Tuesday morning is expected to be even colder than Monday morning with temperatures just above and below zero. The current record low in Denver for October 27 is 11 degrees from 1925. We should crush that record by at least 8 degrees.
Colorado will be dry statewide by late Monday night and then warmer statewide by the end of the week as a ridge of high pressure eventually moves in behind the storm system responsible for the winter-like weather.
Temperatures will be above normal by Friday and mild weather is expected for Halloween on Saturday and the Broncos-Charges game at Mile High on Sunday.
