Parts of the Denver metro area received over a foot of snow overnight — much more than forecasted — and weather experts say a “Denver Cyclone” is to blame. 

The National Weather Service’s initial forecast had called for 4 to 6 inches to fall across the Mile High City, but the Denver Convergence Vorticity Zone, or “Denver Cyclone” phenomenon, created ideal conditions for the storm to produce mass precipitation, said Russell Danielson, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service Boulder. 

Largest snowstorm of the season results in crashes, delays throughout Denver

“This funneled the easterly winds into Denver and created an upslope flow and that just persisted for a lot longer than originally expected,” said Danielson.

“Plus the snowfall ratios were quite high with this storm as some people were reporting as much as 20 inches of snow to one inch liquid equivalent, which is quite high.  With all these factors combined it allowed for Denver to get quite a bit of snow.”

Snowfall totals from Feb. 24-25 storm

In fact, the “Denver Cyclone” brought a season-high snowfall. A total of 9.6 inches were recorded at Denver International Airport and more than 16 inches in Englewood, Danielson said. 

It was the largest snowfall since April 2016 and many schools, including the Denver Public School district, switched to a now-common 100% remote learning day. 

All Denver city and county government agencies began operating two hours later than usual as a two-hour delay was enforced. 

Despite the weather conditions, between midnight and 7 a.m. Thursday the Denver Police Department reported only 18 crashes.

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“Great work, #Denver,” the department tweeted Thursday morning. “Since midnight, we’ve only had 18 traffic crash reports and not a single stolen puffier has been reported! You do us proud.”

Great work, #Denver — since midnight, we’ve only had 18 traffic crash reports and not a single stolen puffer has been reported! You do us proud. #CommuteSafely pic.twitter.com/2i7z9mfY0j

— Denver Police Dept. (@DenverPolice) February 25, 2021

The snow won’t stick around for long. Temperatures will rise into the low to mid-40’s Friday.

“It’ll start warming up a bit (Friday), but will be windy,” Danielson said. “But when there’s mostly sunny skies and warm wind, that really helps melt the snow. It should be pretty well melted by tomorrow.”