Colorado Just Went from a 100°F Heatwave to a 12″ Snowstorm in 48 Hours

In a record-setting 48 hours, temperatures in Colorado over the Labor Day long weekend reached 100+°F, only to dramatically drop to the low 30s on Tuesday/Wednesday, with snowfalls totalling anywhere from 1 inch (Barr Lake) to 14 inches (Westcliffe).

While large temperature swings in Colorado are known to occur, it’s unprecedented for this type of swing to happen in September.

In Fort Collins, the Colorado Climate Center at Colorado State University measured 0.3 inches of snow Tuesday morning, tweeting “the earliest accumulating snow ever observed in over 130 years of records!” That followed Sunday’s high of 99 degrees, the highest temperature ever observed so late in September. The National Weather Service says Fort Collins hit 100 degrees on Saturday.

In Denver, it has been 20 years since it has snowed in September for much of the Front Range. Denver reached 101 degrees on Saturday, making it the latest triple-digit day on record and helping to set a new monthly record high. [source]

There are countless regional records being set for both heat and cold across Colorado. You can find just a few of them below.

Photograph by Luke Runyon

Photograph by Luke Runyon