One Day After Predictions For An Early Spring, A Snowstorm!

One day after both Punxsutawney Phil and Boulder's Flatiron Freddy did not see their shadows - and so predicted an early spring - Colorado was hit with a snowstorm. Of course, Flatiron Freddy could be excused, since he is stuffed. Yes! Stuffed, as in dead. It is just another way Mother Nature teaches us all a valuable lesson - do not trust groundhogs. Of course, here in Denver, we had only about 5 inches of snow, if that, although surrounding areas got a lot more. I took the photograph on the left as I was driving past the Historic Buchtel Boulevard Trail at Prairie Park during the storm this past Saturday morning. And what makes this strip of parkland so historic? Good question. There were once railroad tracks that went through there, and even ran in front of my condo years ago, on which ran an historic railway, although I have no idea which one, where it went, or even why. And I have a sneaking suspicion that if I went ahead and did research on the subject, the details would prove to be pretty dull indeed.

But I digress. The next day the sun came out, the temperatures rose to the 40s, with the 50s not far behind, and all was well with the world again, as seen in the photograph on the right that I took at Red Rocks Park yesterday afternoon. It is said that Denver averages 300 days of sunshine a year, although nobody knows who came up with that statistic, or even if it is true. But more times than not, the sun comes right back out after such storms. Which of course was no comfort to the people Saturday night trying to get home to suburbs in the foothills such as Evergreen and Bergen Park. Due to accidents and dangerous conditions, Interstate 70 was closed west of Golden, leaving those commuters no choice but to wait it out in their cars until the highway reopened. Of course, many commuting to those tony suburbs probably just turned around and stayed the night at their "in-town" place, bless their hearts. Hopefully the concierge was able to get the refrigerator and the bar stocked on such short notice.