Pikes Peak receives season’s first snowfall overnight Monday

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) -- The calendar says the start of fall is three weeks away, but the summit of Pikes Peak received an early dose of snow late Monday and early Tuesday morning.

Jack Glavan, manager of the Pikes Peak Highway, said the snow was only a light dusting and most of it melted before noon.

"It might have been more like graupel (soft snow pellets) than actual snow," he said. "Normally we don't get the first significant snowfall until late September or early October."

Many visitors rushed to the summit Tuesday, hoping to enjoy the snow before it melted.

"There was still some in a few shady spots," one tourist said. "It's the first snow I've seen in 20 years."

Another tourist was thankful that more snow didn't fall.

"I wouldn't have wanted to drive up here in it," she said.

The snow comes two days after an accumulation of ice on the highway forced a delay of the annual Pikes Peak International Hill Climb.