This week's storm delivered on cold but fell short of forecast snow in Fort Collins

Miles Blumhardt, Fort Collins Coloradoan
·3 min read

A winter storm that was forecast to deliver significant snow and cold Tuesday night into Thursday morning delivered on the cold but not the snow.

Fort Collins was expected to receive 7 inches of snow, according to the National Weather Service, but generally received about half that much. The weather service had given the city an 83% chance of receiving more than 4 inches of snow.

The Colorado Climate Center officially recorded 3.9 inches of snow Wednesday, improving the city's snow total for this season to 27 inches. Normal total snowfall for this time of year is 33 inches.

The snow forecast led area school districts to cancel classes Wednesday, some governmental offices to delay opening and Fort Collins, Windsor and Loveland to go on accident alert.

The lowest temperature in Fort Collins during the storm came early Thursday morning at minus 14, which broke the record by 2 degrees, along with a wind chill of minus 30. It was the ninth below-zero temperature low for the city this winter, which ties for the most since 2014. The good news is that we will see a rapid warming trend.

Boulder also set a daily record low Thursday at minus 13, as did Denver at minus 11.

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Fort Collins-area Colorado snow totals

These snowfall readings were from the National Weather Service as of 8 a.m. Thursday:

  • Boulder (3 miles northwest): 6.9 inches

  • Campion: 6.4 inches

  • Estes Park (2 miles south): 6.2 inches

  • Nederland: 6.2 inches

  • Berthoud (4 miles west-southwest): 5.5 inches

  • Pennock Pass (2 miles west-northwest): 5 inches

  • Loveland (1 mile northwest): 5 inches

  • Horsetooth Mountain (3 miles northwest): 5 inches

  • Longmont (2 miles east): 4.7 inches

  • Horsetooth Mountain (4 miles east-southeast): 4.4 inches

  • Fort Collins (4 miles south) 4.3 inches

  • Drake (4 miles west): 3.9 inches

  • Longmont: 3.9 inches

  • Fort Collins (4 miles north-northeast): 3.6 inches

  • Fort Collins (3 miles west): 3.5 inches

  • Fort Collins (2.8 miles west): 3.5 inches

  • Greeley (2 miles south-southwest): 3.4 inches

  • Fort Collins (1 mile south-southwest): 3.3 inches

  • Fort Collins (1 mile southeast): 3.3 inches

  • Mishawaka (6 miles northwest): 3 inches

  • Wellington (1 mile southwest): 2.8 inches

  • Poudre Park: 2.5 inches

  • Severance (1 mile southwest): 1 inch

Fort Collins forecast warming up nicely through the weekend

Thursday, Feb. 23: 30% chance of snow after 5 p.m. Partly sunny, with a high near 14 degrees and wind chill as low as minus 12. Low around 2 degrees.

Friday, Feb. 24: Mostly sunny, with a high near 35 and wind becoming south-southwest 6 to 11 mph, gusting to 17 mph. Low around 12 degrees.

Saturday, Feb. 25: Sunny, with a high near 47 and low around 21.

Sunday, Feb. 26: Mostly sunny, breezy with a high near 50 and low around 28.

This article originally appeared on Fort Collins Coloradoan: Here are Fort Collins-area Colorado snow totals from Wednesday storm