By Christine Reid
Camera Staff Writer

It was cold and wet — and very welcome.

Thursday night's surprise snow shower couldn't have fallen at a better time for a parched Boulder County.

"I put in my spring garden after hearing the forecast," said Douglas Paine, a retired meteorologist and teacher now living in Nederland.

Paine said he believed the storm warning aired early Thursday, even though warm and dry conditions earlier in the week couldn't have been further from snow and freezing temperatures.

"Anything's possible," he said. And Friday he was measuring 8 inches of the white stuff in his yard.

The storm, which dumped the much of its precipitation on Boulder County, was the county's wettest storm since July 16, 2000, according to Matt Kelsch, a University Corporation for Atmospheric Research meteorologist.

"That's a statement of how dry the past two years have been rather than how unusual this storm was," Kelsch said.

The storm dropped almost 2 inches of rain and snow in Boulder, 3 inches in the areas of Louisville and Niwot, and as much as 10½ inches of snow in the mountains.

Temperatures also plummeted, and Boulder experienced a record low for the May 24 of 32. Wondervu registered the coldest county temperature at 26, and Allenspark followed closely with a low of 27.

By late Friday afternoon the sun was back out as people set up their tents for the Memorial Day weekend's Boulder Creek Festival.

"It was beautiful timing," said Dan Bradford, a vendor who had just arrived in Boulder from Taos, N.M. He said the ride up was full of rain and snow, but as they pulled into Boulder, the sun appeared like "magic."

This weekend's forecast is for mostly sunny skies and temperatures in the 70s.

The storm created an upslope, which forced moist easterly winds up the mountains, and the water was wrung out right over Boulder County, Kelsch said.

That doesn't mean the rest of the area was left high and dry. From the Denver-metro area all the way up to Fort Collins enjoyed the wet relief, but the state is still far from becoming drought free, Kelsch warned.

"If people think drought's over, they're wrong," he said.

Contact reporter Christine Reid at (303) 473-1355 or reidc@thedailycamera.com.

May 25, 2002

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