At a Glance
- An early-season snowstorm has pushed through the Rockies and Front Range.
- This was one of the earliest snowfalls on record for parts of the Front Range.
- This abrupt change occurred just days after record-breaking heat.
A bizarre early-September snowstorm dumped snow from Montana to New Mexico, a record early-in-season snow in several locations roughly two weeks before summer officially ended.
At least nine locations had their earliest snowfall on record from this system:
-Casper, Wyoming, picked up 2.3 inches of snow on Sept. 7, then another 5.2 inches on Sept. 8, leapfrogging by one day their previous record earliest measurable snow from Sept. 8, 1962.
-One inch of snow also on Sept. 7, 2020, in Rapid City, South Dakota, bested the previous record earliest snow, there, by four days (Sept. 11, 2014).
-Cheyenne, Wyoming, tied their record earliest measurable snow, measuring 1.1 inches of snow Sept. 8.
-Ft. Collins, Colorado, picked up at least 2 inches of snow on Sept. 8, topping their previous record earliest measurable snow by four days.
-Pueblo, Colorado, saw its record-earliest snowfall on the morning of Sept. 9, 2020, a record that had stood since 1898.
-North Platte, Nebraska, received a trace of sleet early Sept. 9, 2020. That counts as the earliest first snowfall on record there.
-Goodland, Kansas, picked up a half-inch of snow on Sept. 9, 2020, making it the earliest measurable snow on record there.
-Yuma, Colorado, saw its earliest snowfall with 3 inches on Sept. 9, 2020.
-Las Vegas, New Mexico, eclipsed its previous record earliest snow by over a week (Sept. 18, 1971).
Denver International Airport picked up 1 inch of snowfall from this system. The last time snow fell in Denver in September was almost 26 years ago, on September 21, 1994.
The snow in Denver also came just days after the city hit an all-time September record high of 101 degrees on Sept. 5.
In the Black Hills of South Dakota, 10 to 15 inches of snow was reported from this storm. Parts of the high country of southern and central Colorado picked up 12 to 16 inches of snow. The heaviest total from this system was 17 inches just south of Casper, Wyoming.
One to two inches of snow was measured in the hills just west of Santa Fe, New Mexico, in the Sandia Mountains east of Albuquerque, and in the Sierra Blanca range of south-central New Mexico.
Some wet snow even mixed in briefly in the northern Texas Panhandle.
Record Cold, Too
On Tuesday, Sept. 8, Denver tied and Rapid City, South Dakota, broke their record earliest freezes.
The Sept. 8 "high" temperature in Grand Island, Nebraska (52 degrees), was the coldest daily high so early in the season, topping a record that had stood since Sept. 9, 1898.
Albuquerque, New Mexico, set daily record lows for Tuesday, Sept. 8 (42 degrees), and Wednesday, Sept. 9 (40 degrees).
Amarillo, Texas, dipped as low as 37 degrees on Wednesday morning, making it the coldest temperature on record there so early in the season.
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