Monday storm significant despite lack of snow

The snow totals in the Denver area may have been insignificant but the rain in some spots was meaningful.

ARVADA, Colo. — The snow totals around the Denver metro area were not too impressive with one to three inches reported on the south and west side of town.

Zero snow was reported out at Denver International Airport, so the city will still be looking for that first official snow measurement of the season going into Tuesday night’s storm.

There was, however, some meaningful rain throughout the area. We have seen widespread precipitation of this caliber on the Front Range in more than 40 days.

There were even decent totals in parts of Boulder County, which has been one of the driest areas in the state since June.

The bad news is Larimer County, currently in extreme drought conditions, was completely snubbed by Monday’s storm with no measurable snow or rain in most areas including Ft. Collins and Loveland.

In the areas where the storm did hit, the precipitation comes at the perfect time because it’s not healthy for trees and other vegetation to go into a dry winter.

This moisture will soak in and help them to better withstand the temperature swings or deep freezes that may likely be coming in the months ahead.

So while some Front Range residents might be a little jealous of the monster snow totals in the mountains, especially knowing that if it was just 5 degrees colder, this would have been a 5 to 10-inch snowstorm in the metro, take comfort in knowing that the overall precipitation was still very significant.