Spring plans meet snow in Denver as a late storm could be the season’s biggest

DENVER (AP) — While some Americans are gazing at tulips and mowing lawns, people in Colorado and Wyoming are getting out their snow shovels.

A late snowstorm is set to sweep over the Rocky Mountains and High Plains, bringing rain that’s expected to turn to snow in the Denver area by Tuesday night, with up to 8 inches (20 centimeters) possible. Higher elevations might see as much as a foot (30 centimeters), the National Weather Service says.

It could be Denver’s biggest snowfall of the season.

“We just had our driest winter on record,” Kenley Bonner, a meteorologist in the weather service’s Denver office, said. “We were kind of joking earlier in the season that winter’s not going to come until spring, and it did exactly that.”

Big snow and a fast drop in temperature

The snow is expected to continue into Wednesday, followed by plunging temperatures and a widespread freeze overnight, the weather service said.

All that heavy, wet snow could snap tree branches and knock out power, Bonner said. Utilities are preparing, with Xcel Energy putting 165 employees on standby across the state.

Wait, snow in May?

The forecast is unusual, but not unheard of.

Denver typically sees its last snowfall around April 28, although May storms do happen. The “Mile High City” recorded half an inch of snow (1.2 centimeters) on May 21, 2022, while nearby Boulder got 4.5 inches (11.4 centimeters).

Historically, Denver has seen at least five May storms with snowfall over 10 inches (25 centimeters). The biggest, in 1893, dropped 15.5 inches (39.3 centimeters). The city’s most recent double-digit snow was May 25-26, 1950, with 10.7 inches (27 centimeters).

A light dusting on June 2, 1951, was the latest time in the year it snowed.

The storm is welcome during a drought, but not a fix

April was warmer than usual and short on precipitation, with Denver missing an inch of rain (2.5 centimeters) and 2.8 inches of snow (7 centimeters) last month compared to normal.

But one storm won’t solve the West’s water problems.

A report from the National Drought Mitigation Center said recent precipitation helped boost topsoil moisture and reduced irrigation demands, but hasn’t changed a “mostly bleak” water outlook heading into the summer.

Storms elsewhere, too

The unsettled weather isn’t limited to the Rockies.

Thunderstorms are expected from northeast Texas into western Tennessee, with Arkansas facing the greatest risk of large hail, damaging winds and possible tornadoes, according to the Storm Prediction Center. Isolated strong storms could also reach parts of the Northeast.