First Mountain Snow of the Season Blankets Colorado's Rockies

A fresh couple of inches of snow fell across the high terrain of the Colorado Rockies late Wednesday night and early Thursday morning from September 4-5, 2024. It resulted in outstanding pictures of the Rockies, now white with snow above 10,000 feet!

Copper Mountain, about an hour and a half west of Denver, had a dusting of snow at the top of its ski lifts early Thursday. Nearby Arapahoe Basin was excited to see the snow, given the ski area is usually the first to open in the country each year.

Video credit Lucas Herbert of Arapahoe Basin Ski area and pictures credit Copper Mountain.

It's not unusual to get snow this time of the year in the high terrain. While the low elevations, such as Denver, drop into the 50's at night, the high country drops to the 30's and 20's during the overnights. A cold front moving through Colorado brought enough moisture to provide this light snow above 10,000 feet.

Heavy snowfall rates were reported at Berthoud Pass, CO (about 12,000 feet) late Wednesday. The total snowfall was not heavy, but the rate was briefly intense. The average first snowfall occurs in September in the Rocky Mountain region of the West.

September can provide some light snow accumulation atop New England at Mount Washington and the nearby White Mountains. As we get into October, the first snow becomes more likely in some of the lower elevations farther north.

No additional snow is expected in Colorado in the near-term, but this gets some of us excited for the upcoming ski and snowboard season!