Denver weather: City inches closer to latest first snow record - The Denver Post

Denver had the chance of seeing some light snow Tuesday night into Wednesday morning and while that snow was realized in a few locations, Denver has still not received its first snow of the season.

Areas around Fort Collins, Greeley, Loveland and Boulder all received measurable snow overnight. Boulder reported under a half-inch of snow Wednesday morning ending its race toward the top of the late-first-snow list. They have tied the latest date ever with 2016.

You only need 0.1 inches of snow to accumulate for it to count as an official day of snow so although the totals were low, they counted. Here are some snowfall totals that were reported this morning across the Front Range.

Snow Totals

Fort Collins: 0.1 – 0.5 inches
Greeley: 0.1 – 0.7 inches
Boulder: 0.1 – 0.3 inches
Longmont: 0.1 – 0.3 inches
Denver: 0.00 inches

Denver is still waiting for its first measurable snow and now it’s inching closer and closer to having the latest first snow ever. Here’s where we stand now.

Top 5 latest first snowfall dates in Denver

1) 1934 – Nov. 21
2) 1931 – Nov. 19
3) 2021 – Nov. 17
3) 2006 – Nov. 17
5) 1894 – Nov. 16

The forecast calls for a warming trend to happen ahead of the upcoming weekend. Then a weak disturbance will slide through dropping our temperatures a bit by Sunday. This system shows the possibility of snow falling in some areas around Denver but the signal is not strong therefore the chance of this happening is slim. In fact, the NWS in Boulder doesn’t even show the chance of precipitation at all in their Denver forecast in the next seven days.

If Denver on Sunday somehow manages to squeeze out a tenth of an inch of snow by the end of the day, the city will tie the date for the latest snow on record. If that doesn’t happen, which is the more likely result, Denver will officially have the latest first snow ever with records dating back to the 1880s.

Additionally, this continues Denver’s stretch without accumulating snow. As of Wednesday, Denver has gone 210 days without seeing measurable snow securing the city’s spot in the top 10 list.

Top 10 longest stretches without snow in Denver

1) 1887 – 235 days
2) 1888 – 227 days
3) 1898 – 224 days
4) 1886 – 219 days
5) 1925 – 212 days
6) 1992 – 211 days
7) 1977 – 211 days
8) 2021 – 210 days
8) 1940 – 210 days
8) 1894 – 210 days

Assuming Denver makes it to Sunday without getting snow, that’ll put the city at 214 days, securing a top five spot for the longest snowless streaks. Looking further out in the forecast, there is a signal for snow in the days leading up to Thanksgiving which could end our snowless streak but that signal, almost expectedly at this point, does not look very strong.

Denver is in the midst of challenging very long-standing weather records. This story could be slightly better if we were just talking about a lack of snow but we have hardly seen any beneficial precipitation since June. The last time Denver received more than 0.10 inches of rain on any day was back on Sept. 13. The last time the city reported 0.25 inches was way back on June 24. It has been bone dry across the region and is the reason that Denver and the surrounding metro are experiencing severe drought conditions again.

It will eventually snow in Denver. There’s never been a year where it hasn’t, but that doesn’t eradicate the fact that we have yet to see snow and it’s almost Thanksgiving.

UPDATE: Nov. 17, 2021 at 5:45 p.m.: Due to a reporting error, an earlier version of this story incorrectly listed the amount of snow necessary to count as a "measurable snow" reading. It also incorrectly stated the date of Fort Collins' first measurable snow of the season. Fort Collins received 0.4 inches of snow on Nov. 1, 2021, according to the National Weather Service.

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