Flashback 2003 - May Snowstorm Causes Damage

May 1, 5:39 PMDenver Weather ExaminerTony Hake

Previous Next

Comment Print Email RSS Subscribe

Subscribe

Get alerts when there is a new article from the Denver Weather Examiner. Read Examiner.com's terms of use.

Email Address   Include other special offers from Examiner.com Terms of Use

Thursday we saw yet another reminder that May doesn't necessarily mean the end of the snow for the Denver area.  As I mentioned in my May Weather Preview, we can pretty much expect anything this month - rain, wind, hail, thunderstorms, tornadoes, and of course snow. 

As I was watching this snow come down today I remembered back a few years ago when we got a pretty big snowstorm later in the month that caused a lot of damage.  On May 9th and into May 10th, 2003, we received over 7" of very wet and heavy snow.  For me, some quite old cottonwood trees I have had just opened up and that snow stuck like glue to them and brought a lot of branches crashing down.  I have some video of me outside that morning and you can hear branches breaking so much it sounds like a lightning storm. 

Below are some of the photos from that day - just as a reminder that today's storm wasn't all that bad.

May 10, 2003 - A view of my backyard.  You can see trees in the neighborhood struggling against the weight of the snow.

May 10, 2003 - The shredded remains of one of my cottonwood trees.  It used to look very full and beautiful and while to a large extent it has recovered, it still doesn't look as nice today. 

May 10, 2003 - My other cottonwood tree.  Thankfully none of the really big branches fell on top of my motorhome! 

May 10, 2003 - Here you can see that branches up to 5" in diameter were snapped.