IN WINTER’S GRIP
Sophie Paymaster, 6, pulls on the branches of a large tree to make the snow fall off of the leaves at Scott Carpenter Park on Monday in Boulder. Sophie came to the park to go sledding with her mother, brother and grandmother. The metro area isn’t done, with more snow forecast Tuesday and Wednesday as temperatures are expected to plunge as low as 1 degree on Wednesday.
October 2019 weather continued to outdo itself in Colorado Monday, delivering one of the month’s biggest snowfalls in decades and leaving the possibility of record colds later in the week.
Another winter storm is expected to hit the region Tuesday and Wednesday, bringing another 8 to 16 inches of snow along the Front Range foothills, according to the National Weather Service forecast. Snow is expected to begin over the mountains early Tuesday and then move into the plains by the afternoon.
This storm also could bring record colds with the low Wednesday predicted to be 1 degree. The record cold for October in Denver is -2 degees, set on Oct. 29, 2017.
The snowstorm that rolled in Sunday morning and stretched well into Monday morning dropped an average of 4 to 7 inches along the Front Range, the National Weather Service reported.
It’s not unusual for the Denver to experience an October snow, but the city average for the month is just more than 4 inches.
Ski resorts are thrilled with the heavy October snow.
Keystone and Breckinridge reported more than 40 inches of snow this month. And the snow forced the earliest closure in eight years at Independence Pass, Colorado’s highest paved state road. The Colorado Department of Transportation closed it Monday morning.
Roads throughout the metro area were snowpacked and icy as the morning commute began Monday. The Colorado Department of Transportation urged drivers to avoid or delay their commute, saying it’s “a good morning to work from home.”
Travel conditions will be hazardous again Tuesday night and Wednesday morning with icy and snow-packed roads, the National Weather Service said.