The deepest May snowstorm since 2022 is causing power outages, road closures and a just a touch of FOMO in Colorado today.
Nearly 50,000 properties are in the dark at 9:45 a.m., according to the Xcel Energy outage map. Most of those are in the Denver Metro area, where heavy snow is bending power lines and breaking trees already sprouting spring leaves.
Power in Summit County is relatively stable for now with brief power surges. The Krystal 93 studio in Dillon lost power for a few seconds around 7:30 a.m. In Frisco last night close to 1,000 homes were in the dark for about three hours.
Vail Pass was closed about 2 hours this morning for multiple jackknifed semi-trucks. Other stretches of interstate have closed briefly for spun-off vehicles. There are traction laws on every high-mountain pass, with one member of the Facebook group Hoosier Passers summing it up nicely:
“7.5/10 difficulty. Poor visibility, icy, soft snow on top as it’s coming down decently … suggest waiting in you can.”
While we were sleeping…
A 33-hour winter storm warning started slowly yesterday with gray, gloomy skies and scattered rain and snow in the Front Range foothills. Summit School District and multiple Front Range districts preemptively canceled classes for today, eliciting plenty of snark from mountain residents, who shared photos of dry roads and green grass soon after the announcement was made.
By this morning the snark was buried under at least a few inches of fast-falling snow. Residents of Boulder awoke to 10 inches, easily its biggest 24-hour total of winter. Nederland saw 13 inches. Both were deeper than most of Summit County, where Breckenridge saw 5 inches overnight and Loveland Pass claimed 11 inches.
The deepest snow was further north at Cameron Pass and Rocky Mountain National Park, where up to 20 inches of snow blanketed the peaks around Bear Lake and Trail Ridge Road. RMNP could see another few inches during the day today. The Colorado Avalanche Information Center warns of “high” avalanche danger there, calling this the biggest storm since last winter.
The last time we saw this much Mayuary snow? That was 2022, when upwards of two feet fell on Breckenridge in mid-May.
Earn your turns
In Summit, and across the state, not a single chairlift is running today, but not because of power outages. Copper Mountain and Arapahoe Basin closed for daily ski operations this past Sunday, May 3, after a devastating March heat spell with unprecedented high temperatures and 15 consecutive days with no snow. Every other ski hill closed weeks before then.
But the getting is good, if you’re willing to get after it. A-Basin will reopen for (at least) one more bonus weekend this Friday through Sunday, May 8-10. Today, the slopes at A-Basin are open to uphill travel.
Avalanche danger in Summit is a layer cake today with low to considerable danger in just a few hundred vertical feet. What was dry and exposed yesterday is now barely buried under fresh snow. Check the forecast and tread cautiously.
Preview image via NWS Boulder on FB.