Colorado Gets Almost Two Feet of Snow on First Day of Summer

Steamboat Springs, and other elevated parts of Colorado, received record amounts of snow on Friday — the first official day of summer.

CNN meteorologist Gene Norman reported that the last time the mountain tourist town got any snow this late in the year was nearly a century ago, on June 17, 1928.

“Is it really summer?” the Rocky Mountain National Park posted to its official Facebook on Sunday. “A wintery blast covered the park’s highest peaks with snow causing Trail Ridge Road to temporarily close.” Park crews were “working to clear five foot snow drifts left behind from the storm.”

Where is it all coming from? According to Norman, the climate is warmer and wetter: Below a certain elevation, it is too warm to support snowfall — Florida is under a heat advisory at the moment, with heat indexes headed for 108 degrees — but up in the Rockies, it is a very different story indeed.

Yes, that is snow in my hand. Snowball fights in June. I love Colorado! pic.twitter.com/NhGVXFheHS

— Kelly Clarkson (@kellyclarkson) June 14, 2019

Pop singer Kelly Clarkson seems to be enjoying it. “Yes, that is snow in my hand,” she tweeted on June 14. “I love Colorado!” No word whether she still loves it, two feet higher.