Meteorologist Britta Merwin

The saying goes, “April showers bring May Flowers”, but what happens after a May snowstorm?

Many folks from Wyoming, through the Colorado Rockies, into the Dakotas walked to the window on May 1st and 2nd to see a winter wonderland. Western South Dakota, including Rapid City, was actually under a blizzard warning during the storm and received over a foot of snow! It is late season storms like this that leave people not only wondering if their calendar is right but if this is normal?

To explore what really is normal we head to my favorite state of Colorado, big surprise!

The average snowfall for Denver in May is 1.3’’ and every two years out of five years snow is actually recorded in the mile high city. The past decade hardly any snowfall was recorded in the area but a few days ago the first week of May 2008 hit the books with 0.7’’ of snow in Denver. Thankfully this was nowhere near the record May snowfall of 15.5’’ in 1898.

It is hard to say what is normal when it comes to weather especially in Colorado. The month of May is know for is variety across the Front Range. Daytime highs can fall between 40 degrees one day and then a couple days later can rebound into the 70s and 80s.

The latest freeze for the area is usually on June 8th. With cooler temperatures staying in the higher elevations ski resorts can stay open late into the season by making snow overnight. This year Arapahoe Basin, known as A-Basin to the locals, is open until early June!

May is also the wettest month on average for Denver with precipitation recorded once out of every three days. And although Colorado is known for its sunshine (some say 300 days of sun a year) May is characterized as the cloudiest month tied with November.

So from fat snowflakes to beautiful summer like conditions your calendar is right, it really is May.