A drier day Wednesday; rain again Thursday

By Bill Scanlon, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Originally published 06:48 a.m., May 13, 2008
Updated 06:09 p.m., May 13, 2008

Photo by Ken Papaleo

Andy Busby plays frisbee with his dog, L.C. at A-Basin today. Busby and his dog are from Durango and came to A-Basin tom play in the snow. A-Basin recieved about 5 inches new snow, they will be closing June 8th for the season.

Photo by George Kochaniec Jr.

Rescue workers reach an SUV that plunged more than 200 feet off eastbound I-70, three miles west of the Eisenhower tunnel, today.

Photo by Ken Papaleo

A horse looks for food under the snow Tuesday morning at Cokenboo Ranch in Evergreen.

Photo by Ken Papaleo

Tulips stick out of the snow at Evergreen Nursery on Tuesday morning in Kiyridge. The spring storm has left up to 10 inches of heavy wet snow in the foothills, west of Denver.

Photo by George Kochaniec Jr.

Rescue workers remove an occupant of an SUV today which plunged more than 200 feet off eastbound I-70, three miles west of the Eisenhower tunnel.

Photo by reader Drucella Davis

Duchess, a long-haired dachshund, checks out the late-season snow in Lakewood.

More than a foot of snow socked the foothills just southwest of Evergreen, and parts of Boulder got 6 inches as a Pacific storm turned streets slippery and lawns green - and in some cases, white.

Freezing temps were expected overnight tonight, but back-yard gardeners who placed buckets or blankets over their plants Monday need to uncover them early Wednesday to give them the light they need, said Mary Small, horticulturist with the Colorado State University extension office in Jefferson County.

When the weather turns cold again Wednesday night — the low is expected to be in the upper 30s — the blankets and buckets need to go back on the plants, she said.

“In our climate, there’s a lot of covering and uncovering this time of year,” Small said.

The storm that descends Wednesday night is expected to bring another day of heavy rains on the plains and snow in the high country. Wednesday's high is expected to be about 60, but Thursday's high drops to 55.

The warm up in the aftermath of these two storms should be even more dramatic than earlier forecast, with highs increasing from 65 on Friday to 76 on Saturday and 82 both Sunday and Monday.

Rain and snow caused problems for commuters this morning, triggered auto accidents around the metro area.

Most of the neighborhoods of metro Denver got more rain than snow, if they got snow at all. But in the foothills, it looked like mid-winter.

Among the snow totals through afternoon today, as reported to the NWS by trained spotters:

Genesee: 8 inches

Bailey: 7 1/2 inches

Bergen Park: 6 inches

Breckenridge: 8 inches

St. Mary's Glacier, Clear Creek County:7 inches

West of Golden: 4 1/2 inches

• May 13, 2008

  3:21 p.m.

  Suggest removal

  GWM writes:

  sasquatch, how does it look out your window?

• May 13, 2008

  5:43 p.m.

  Suggest removal

  titancain writes:

  This will show those global warming idiots!

• May 13, 2008

  6:08 p.m.

  Suggest removal

  greenleaf writes:

  GWM,

  SQUATCH reported his window test in the "snow in forcast" article today. This one says "rain" so he skipped it. I knew you would like to know! :>)

• May 13, 2008

  6:43 p.m.

  Suggest removal

  TheDenverB writes:

  yeah, they predicted snowfall but all i saw was rain...

  which, judging by his logic, global warming must have PASSED the look-out-the-window test today.