The first real snowfall came early this year to Franktown, CO.
In Colorado, we are a bit weather-obsessed. We watch the weather forecasts with an avidity akin to fangirls scouring Twilight press releases. Or the way celebrity hounds stalk Brangelina. And the fascination is really not that dissimilar. The weather in Colorado is moody, unpredictable, beautiful, and devastatingly powerful all at the same time. It’s common for temps to roam over a 30 degree range or more in one 24 hour period. It can be warm and balmy in the morning and by late afternoon, a cold front will have us snapping our windows shut and slipping on a fleece jacket. The wind will scour the prairie flat and whisk away anything not nailed down, sometimes leaving cars and trucks tipped drunkenly on their sides.
So although it’s a bit early for our first real snowfall in Colorado, it’s not totally eye popping. Not like hail in July or August, which left us gob smacked the first time and rather blase by the third. Our first frost arrived about a month early, at the end of September and we had light snow around that time as well. Nothing worth mentioning – more like rain that took a while to get wet.
Yesterday, however, was real snow. Wet and heavy with a sneaky liquid base layer that has formed a nasty shield of black ice this morning. I estimate about six inches in some places – the minimum requirement to be considered worth pulling the shovel out.
The forecast predicted a maximum 2″ in our area. It’s no surprise they underestimated – that aspect of weather forecasts is more predictable than the weather itself. Although it didn’t take us by surprise, the trees were clearly not prepared, deceived by the 70 plus degree weather we enjoyed over the weekend. Sap flowing, still soft with the belief that growing season had not yet ended, they’re now bent over and sagging.
No worries, though. We’re predicted to zoom back into the 50′s today. The snow will be nothing but a memory in a day or so and we’ll be back to believing that winter is yet to come.
By now you are probably realizing that this post is coming to an end without one mention (until now) of the alpacas. That’s right – an entire entry dedicated purely to the weather. How flabbergasting! That’s like an ice breaker at a party that lasts for two hours, you exclaim! But this is Colorado. And in Colorado, the weather is news!
