Colorado blasted with late-spring snowfall

Thomas Leffler
·2 min read
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Colorado blasted with late-spring snowfall

It's been two days since AccuWeather RealFeel® Temperatures were in the 90-degree range in many parts of Colorado, including the Denver metro area, but the late-spring surge of warmth now seems like a distant memory in the state.

As of Saturday morning, locales across the state were covered in snow, receiving more than a foot of snow amid plummeting temperatures that sent the clock backwards to winter for the state's residents. High snowfall totals, according to the National Weather Service, were found in Cripple Creek, Colorado, (20 inches of snow through 6:45 a.m. MDT Saturday) as well as Woodland Park, Colorado, (16 inches as of 7 a.m. MDT) and Whiskey Park, Colorado, (15 inches as of 7 p.m. MDT Friday evening).

The winterlike conditions began in the Mile High City of Denver on Thursday evening, when a temperature drop found the city going from 85 F at 6:53 p.m. MDT Thursday, to 59 F just one hour later. Though the 46-mph wind gusts disappeared after Thursday, the severe snowfall picked up the outlier weather in the region. Snapshots taken from a video in Bennett, Colorado, shows the storm picking up momentum through the region on Friday, part of the sudden climate shift in the state.

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Snowfall reports in the Denver area have been varied thus far, with 1 inch of snow reported at Denver International Airport, but suburbs west and south of downtown Denver saw reports of 3-6 inches of slushy, wet snow as of early Saturday. In Colorado Springs, Colorado, a general 4-7 inches of snow has fallen as part of the storm.

Snow began trickling in during Friday afternoon, creating a nice view from this Lafayette, Colorado, home:

Thursday in Colorado began rather peacefully, as is evident by this shot from Lakewood, Colorado, making the storm's arrival that much more jarring for the state's residents.

Colorado's electrical power has been swiftly challenged by the snowfall, leaving over 100,000 customers without power as of 9:04 a.m. MDT Saturday, per PowerOutageUS. The hardest-hit counties in the state as of Saturday morning are Fremont County (3,041 customers out of power, out of 5,577 tracked by the website), Teller County (700 out of power out of 1,338 tracked customers) and Pueblo County (2,771 out of power out of 7,974 tracked customers).

Due to the inclement weather, Major League Baseball's Colorado Rockies postponed Friday's scheduled game against the New York Mets, turning Saturday's scheduled affair into a double-header.

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