With a chance of snowflakes in the forecast, here’s the entries to our 2021 First Snow Contest!

Thanks to everyone that entered our 2021 First Snow Contest. We briefly review the entries which actually trend towards an earlier date than Boulder’s climatology would suggest. That’s good news because snow may be in the forecast right now. Contest prizes and recognition will be awarded in the days following our first dumping of snow, BIG or SMALL!

In the announcement post for this contest, we offered a little insight by providing a few of Boulder’s “first snow” statistics. More than 200 of you came up with “educated” guesses for the timing and amount of Boulder’s first snow of the 2021-22 winter season. All of the entries are contained in the calendar view below (click to enlarge):

A few notes about the predictions:

Dates range from September 21st to December 6th
Amounts range from 0.1 to 11 inches
The median date of the guesses were October 18th. This is two days earlier than climatology.
The most popular day chosen was October 10th which was selected six times.
86% of entries predict a first snow of 4.0 inches or less

BoulderCAST Podcast Episode #25: Examining the Snowfall World Record

SUMMARY OF SCORING:

Those who come closest to the actual date of Boulder’s first MEASURABLE SNOW (defined as snowfall at or above 0.1″) win! For verification, we’ll go off the official Boulder climate station located at the NIST building in south Boulder. Only the first calendar date of snow will be used (i.e. if the first snow event spans two days, only the amount of the first day will count). In the event that multiple participants select the same date, the tie-breaker of snowfall amount will be used.

SUMMARY OF PRIZES:

The prizes for the contest are as follows:

1st place: 12-month Premium subscription + $30 Amazon Gift Card
2nd place: 6-month Premium subscription + $10 Amazon Gift Card
Anyone who guesses within 1 day OR 0.1″ correct: 2-month Premium subscription
All other entries: Virtual “pat on the back”