There is lots of talk (and hype!) about next week’s storm and the potential for our first snowfall of the season. While it is somewhat unusual to get snow so early in the season, it is far from unprecedented and not near as rare as you might think.

Whipping out the weather history books, we see that snow has fallen in 28 Septembers in the 139 years since the National Weather Service began recording snow in the Mile High City. That equates to about 20% of the years.

It has, however, been quite a while since we have seen one, the most recent occurring in 2000. That was the last in a stretch in which six out of eight years saw September snow.

Our earliest snowfall on record came on September 3, 1961 when 4.2 inches of the white stuff fell. The average date of Denver’s first snow is October 18th.

Most concerning about these early season snows is the potential for tree damage and power outages. Like spring storms, early season snows are usually quite wet and heavy and have the potential to wreak havoc, even if there isn’t much to them.