Mother's Day storm buries Teller County under more than a foot of snow

A slow moving storm brought a bit of a Mother Day's surprise to Teller County on Sunday, with more than a foot of snow in some areas.

What led to the snow? An area of low pressure over the eastern Plains of Colorado was stronger than our forecast models had predicted. Moisture that held together on the back side of the low directed a narrow, but intense band of snow into Teller County on Sunday.

Why the change in the forecast? We were expecting the low pressure system to be farther to the east by Sunday morning. Instead of a north-south oriented band of rain on the I-25 corridor, the subtle shift in the position of the low led to persistent snowfall in the mountains and Pikes Peak Region. This resulted in explosive snowfall rates of 2-3" per hour Teller County.

Some of our News 5 viewers had this to say about the storm:

"Shoveling was impossible - as soon as I finished a path it was immediately covered over again."

Bonnie Sumner

"(Snow is) still coming down, in buckets."

Don Peacock

"12 inches plus in Divide right now and it's still blizzarding! Happy Mother's Day!"

David K. Johnson Photography

Mandy Campbell

During the storm, Highway 24 was closed in parts of Teller County from 10 am until 1:30 pm Sunday.

In Park County, Highway 285 was also shut down for several hours, between Fairplay and Kenosha Pass.

Because of the storm, the Cripple Creek-Victor school district and Woodland Park school district both started Monday with a 2 hour delay.

The First Alert 5 Weather team says that with a high of 61 degrees on Monday in Woodland Park, a lot of snow should melt away during the day.