1913 December Denver, snowstorm
Denver, snowstorm
If you’re a fan of Colorado weather trivia the dates December 1-5, 1913 are certain to grab your attention. That’s when the city was hit with the worst blizzard in its recorded history.
During that five-day period, the Mile High City was pummeled with an unbelievable 45.7 inches of snow and some mountain towns saw as much as 60 inches of the white stuff.
While modern-day Denver residents worry that a massive blizzard might knock out their cable and internet connections, thus denying them precious moments of binge TV watching, their 1913 counterparts had more immediate concerns. Of particular importance to those early 20th century Denver residents was maintaining an ample supply of coal to heat their homes. Coal deliveries, not surprisingly, were suspended until roads were made passable.
So how did the Blizzard of 1913 compare to Denver’s other big storms? It blew them out of the water (or the snow drift if you prefer). According to the National Weather Service, the 45.7 inches of snow in 1913 was a full 13.9 inches more than the second worst blizzard, March 17-19, 2003.
The next biggest storms were:
30.4 inches, Nov 2-4, 1946
23.8 inches, Dec 24, 1982
23.0 inches, Apr 23, 1885
22.7 inches, Oct 20-23, 1906
21.9 inches, Oct 24-25, 1997
21.5 inches, Nov 26-27, 1983
20.7 inches, Dec 20-21, 2006
19.3 inches, Jan 29-31, 1883
So when will the next big storm come? Your guess is as good as ours, but you might want to lay away a bit of extra coal this winter, just in case.
Photo NewsblizzardPhoto Gallery:
Denver, snowstorm
1913
Denver, snowstorm
1913 December
Denver, snow scenes
1913 December
Floss, Big Snow Storm of 1914 [sic] on Clarkson Street
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Big snow of December 1913
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Denver, snowstorm
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Denver, Snowstorms
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Denver, snowstorm
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Denver, snowstorm
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Beautiful Shovel
Full size imageRocky Mountain News Cartoon, 19131913
Prodigal’s Return
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1913-4
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A street car blockaded at 16 and Welton Sts. Taken in the snow-storm the morning of Dec. 6, 1913
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Big snow of December 1913
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Big snow of December 1913
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Big snow of December 1913
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Big snow of December 1913
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Big snow of December 1913
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Big snow of December 1913
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Big snow of December 1913
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Big snow of December 1913 17th Ave. looking toward Broadway
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Big snow of December 1913 Colfax and Broadway
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Big snow of December 1913 Colfax looking east from Broadway
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Big snow storm Dec 4-5-6-1913, 48″
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City Teams Unloading Snow on Civic Center
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Dec – 1913
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Denver, snowstorm
Full size image1913 December
Denver, snowstorm
Full size image1913 December
The biggest snowstorm in Denver history, 1913