2 Feet Of Snow Falls In Colorado

A spring snowstorm dumped heavy snow in parts of the Rockies from Wyoming into Colorado, not just in the high country, but also along the Front Range, including Denver and Cheyenne on May 5-6, 2026. A large dip in the jet stream provided upper level energy, while an area of low pressure associated with a cold front helped result in upslope flow. Highest snow totals were recorded across the Front Range and the foothills.

Snow Reports

Parts of Cheyenne, Wyoming, picked up 11.6 inches of snow, their heaviest snowfall of a paltry season, and most from any snowstorm since a mid-March 2021, according to the National Weather Service. This snow prompted a shutdown of Interstate 80 in both directions from Laramie to Cheyenne Tuesday, May 5.

In Colorado, nearly 3 feet of snow has been reported in and near Rocky Mountain National Park (dark maroon colored dots).

Nearby Estes Park picked up between 22-33.9 inches.

5.8 inches of snow fell over a 2-day period at the Denver International Airport making it the biggest May snowstorm since 2003. The NWS office in Boulder reported 11.0 inches of snow, their heaviest May snowstorm in 13 years and sixth heaviest two-day May snowfall.

While major interstates were mainly wet in downtown Denver, some snowy travel was reported on Interstate 25 from north of Denver to Ft. Collins. But the Colorado Rockies grounds crew may be the best in the biz as they cleared all of the snow from Coors Field before the Rockies faced the Mets that same night.

The weight of wet snow on trees and power lines resulted in at least 50,000 outages, mainly in the Denver metro area, according to PowerOutage.com.

(MORE: Falling Trees One Of Most Underrated Weather Dangers)

How Unusual Is This May Snow?

In much of the U.S., snow is usually in the rear-view mirror once we've reached May.

But not in the Rockies.

Both Cheyenne and Denver average 1 to 3 inches of May snowfall, and measurable snowfall over nine months from September through May.

That's due to their higher elevation. You know Denver is the "Mile High City." Cheyenne, Wyoming, sits on a ridge almost 1,000 feet higher than Denver.

According to the National Weather Service, Denver's last measurable snow of the season has happened in May twice in the last 10 years, on May 21, 2022, and May 21, 2019.

Denver's record latest measurable snow was on June 2, 1951 (0.3 inches). The city also picked up 5.6 inches of snow on May 29, 1975, three days after Memorial Day.

(MORE: What's Typical In May)

Record May Snowstorm?

The bar graph below shows both the record May monthly snowfall tallies and average May snowfall for both Cheyenne and Denver. Those record tallies would resemble average monthly snowfalls in the middle of winter in other snowy places in the U.S.

Cheyenne's record May snowstorm was an 18.3-inch pummeling exactly 48 years ago, from May 5-6, 1978. Cheyenne had eight other May snowstorms with at least a foot of snow, including in mid-May 2017 (14.3 inches) and mid-May 2014 (12 inches).

Denver's record May snowstorms were each 12.4-inch events in that same May 1978 storm as Cheyenne, as well as in mid-May 1912.

Snow Deficit

The West has suffered a major snow drought this past season, with the least amount of snow in several decades in much of the Rockies and mountain West.

As the graph below shows, since mid-January, Colorado's snowpack has been at or below its record low since at least 1987.

Jonathan Erdman is a senior meteorologist at weather.com and has been covering national and international weather since 1996. Extreme and bizarre weather are his favorite topics. Reach out to him on Bluesky, X (formerly Twitter) and Facebook.