Ah, 1983: When Alaska came to Denver for Turkey Day and refused to leave. What’s worse (and rare for Denver!) was that the snow stuck around for more than two months, refusing to fully melt. On Thanksgiving, you’re supposed to go over the river and through the wood to grandmother’s house, right? The only way you were going to do that on Thanksgiving 1983 was if you actually had a sleigh, because the 21.5 inches that fell kept you from traveling in almost anything else. But the main problem was the tangle at DIA, and not for the last time. Hundreds of motorists had to be rescued from roadsides around the metro area, and drifting became an issue. The snowfall measured 20.7 inches, and completely screwed holiday travelers not only here in Colorado, but across the country, as the domino effect of airline cancellations kicked in. The most recent date on the list of the top ten Denver snowstorms was the pre-Christmas 2006 blizzard. It’s a pretty good bet that a footand a half of snow was tougher to handle back then.

This particular record was set only 25 years after Denver was founded, and only weeks after Thomas Edison installed the first electric lighting system in New Jersey. This is the earliest date in the top ten, though that probably has something to do with when people began keeping records. The first month of 1883 went out in a white blur here in Denver, with 19.3 inches falling over a few very cold days.

Denver snow totals today