Did Denver have a rough winter 2014-2015?

[Katarina Witt]

Originally Posted by Timmyy

I don't think it has snowed on Halloween itself but there seems to be snow on the ground.

Denver's Halloween Weather Statistics - thorntonweather.com
Halloween stats through 2011
"There seems to be a popular belief in Denver that it almost always snows on the day that the goblins and ghosts head through the neighborhoods seeking sweet delights. Let's take a quick look through 58 years of weather statistics (1954-2011) for Denver to see if in fact that snow actually plays a role on Halloween.

If you examine only October 31st...snow has only fallen 10 times (which includes trace amounts) during the past 58 years of which 8 of the days had measurable snowfall. This works out to be about once every 7 years or so or 14%. However...if you include the days that had snow on the ground on October 31st but no snow actually fell during the trick or treat times (5pm -8pm), you can add in an additional 10 times. . . Previous to 2002...the last measurable snow occurred in 1989. There was a mixture of rain and snow early in the day before changing to all snow late in the day. A total of 3.4 inches of snow fell with another 1.1 inches on November 1st."
Plus much more!
Note to mod: Govt. link

I remember that snow of 1989. My kids were 5 and 2. There's been snow on the ground many a year. We always made the costumes to coordinate with a ski jacket, either under the costume or as part of it!

Originally Posted by SkyDog77

Some do great. The Silver Maple is not a good tree though.

We have two Silvers that we brought home in the back of our little Toyota station wagon 26 years ago. They've been great trees. The one in front provides shade for the entire front yard now, the one in back shades the back yard. One year there was a Sept. snow that split the one in back. DH roped it back together and it lived! You can still see the rope marks in the trunk. Maybe we've been lucky.

[TCHP]

So add in those extra 10 days of having snow on the ground and you are at 31% or every 3rd year. Around here, thats a pretty decent percentage. Granted, it seems like the last decade has actually bucked that trend and it has been nicer rather than cold, but I can remember many a Halloweeen party with cold to very cold weather.

[DougStark]

Here in Phoenix we have the opposite problem: insanely high temps (115) that scorch the life out of all but the hardiest species. But ironically, we also have winter damage when it hits mid 20s.

PS- If anyone in Denver (or all of Colorado) is interested in growing roses, I would HIGHLY recommend Dr. Buck bred rose varieties. He was a professor in Iowa who made it his hobby to create cold-hardy, beautiful roses that withstand Iowa winters with no protection.

Google" Buck roses" for retailers. He created dozens of beautiful varieties. He is no longer with us, unfortunately.

[SkyDog77]

Originally Posted by Katarina Witt

We have two Silvers that we brought home in the back of our little Toyota station wagon 26 years ago. They've been great trees. The one in front provides shade for the entire front yard now, the one in back shades the back yard. One year there was a Sept. snow that split the one in back. DH roped it back together and it lived! You can still see the rope marks in the trunk. Maybe we've been lucky.

They are the only maple species not allowed to be planted on city streets in Denver. The whole "split in a snowstorm" is the reason they are bad trees. Very prone to breakage. I planted an autumn blaze maple in my backyard. Much better variety than silver.

[atler8]

Originally Posted by denverian

It never got down to -20 . The coldest it got all winter was that November freeze, and it was around -10 in the city the one night.

FYI: Smihaila wrote -20 celsius, not fahrenheit.
There's a huge difference between those 2 different temperatures.

[denver_hacker]

We had a late spring snow that took out a lot of branches on my 50+ year old ash that had been trimmed in 2014...