Spring In Colorado

It can be annoying when the folks at the National Weather Service get the forecast wrong. But there’s that rare occasion when it’s more irksome when the NWS gets it right. Last weekend was one of those occasions.

Meteorologists said there would be snow, heavy at times, for a 30-hour period beginning Friday night through Saturday. It was hard to buy into the notion, seeing it was practically May and temperatures heading into the weekend were in the upper 70s.

But man, those guys nailed it. Pueblo set a record for snowfall on April 28: 2.5 inches. It crushed the mark set in 1917 of six-tenths of inch. The following day, Saturday, an additional 7.4 inches of snow fell. Amazingly, by Sunday afternoon, most of the snow had melted away.

Unofficially, up to a foot of snow fell around Pueblo. April, 2017 turned out being the sixth snowiest April on record. I shot a pair of short video clips, one on Friday before the storm hit, the other on Saturday to contrast the weather. It was uncanny.

Snow wasn’t the only thing that fell that weekend. All over town, tree limbs by the thousands snapped under the weight of the wet, heavy snow. Entire trees were lost, from newly planted ornamental trees to 80-year-old elms. Monica and I lost a couple sizable branches from one of our elm trees. The scope of the damage was so extensive, Pueblo City Council established two sites were residents could drop off broken branches at no charge.

<img src=”images/May_tree_drop_5.jpg” title=”” alt=”Thousands of trees in Pueblo, like this one on Jackson Street, were damaged in the storm that dumped up to one foot of snow in the area April 29-30. Damage was so extensive, City Council established two collection sites where Pueblo residents could drop off broken tree limbs at no charge. Photo by MIke Sweeney/©2017″ />
Thousands of trees in Pueblo, like this one on Jackson Street, were damaged in the storm that dumped up to one foot of snow in the area April 29-30. Damage was so extensive, City Council established two collection sites where Pueblo residents could drop off broken tree limbs at no charge. Photo by MIke Sweeney/©2017

<img src=”images/May Tree drop 2.jpg” title=”” alt=”Pick-up trucks line up to drop loads of broken tree limbs at Lake Minnequa Park May 2, 2017. Pueblo City Council established two sites where Pueblo residents can drop off–at no charge–branches damaged in the snowstorm that moved through Pueblo April 29-30. Photo by Mike Sweeney/©2017″ />
Pick-up trucks line up to drop loads of broken tree limbs at Lake Minnequa Park May 2, 2017. Pueblo City Council established two sites where Pueblo residents can drop off–at no charge–branches damaged in the snowstorm that moved through Pueblo April 29-30. Photo by Mike Sweeney/©2017

< img src=”images/May Tree drop 1.jpg” title=”” alt=”A Pueblo resident adds to a pile of broken tree limbs May 2, 2017 at Lake Minnequa Park. Thousands of trees suffered damage as a result of the storm that dumped up to a foot of snow in the Pueblo area April 29-30. Photo by Mike Sweeney/©2017″>
A Pueblo resident adds to a pile of broken tree limbs May 2, 2017 at Lake Minnequa Park. Thousands of trees suffered damage as a result of the storm that dumped up to a foot of snow in the Pueblo area April 29-30. Photo by Mike Sweeney/©2017

<img src=”images/May tree drop 4.jpg” title=”” alt=”A crew runs branches through a chipper at the Lake Minnequa Park where Pueblo residents are dropping off brush and broken tree limbs damaged in the April 29-30 snowstorm that dumped up to a foot of snow in area. Photo by MIke Sweeney/©2017″>
A crew runs branches through a chipper at the Lake Minnequa Park where Pueblo residents are dropping off brush and broken tree limbs damaged in the April 29-30 snowstorm that dumped up to a foot of snow in area. Photo by MIke Sweeney/©2017

And they did, by the truck load. The first day it opened at Lake Minnequa Park, pick-up trucks stuffed with broken tree limbs waited in line for nearly 30 minutes to drop their loads. Two lines of discarded branches 70 yards long piled eight feet high stacked up as crews manned a pair of wood chippers.

I can hardly wait for summer.

Spring In Colorado

MICHAEL SWEENEY PHOTOGRAPHY

EDITORIAL / COMMERCIAL / DRONE

COLORADO