Colorado history

Sunday, September 27, 2026

September decides to snow for real, Mile High sells every seat it has and then never stops, and the calendar keeps a 92-degree afternoon in the same drawer as a 25-degree morning.

The leaves are still on the trees when Denver starts its biggest September snow

1936 · Denver

On the afternoon of Sept. 27, 1936, the flakes that had been on and off since the 26th became a continuous, wet September snow. From 6 p.m. that night to 6 p.m. on the 28th, Denver measured 15 inches, still the heaviest 24-hour September snowfall on the books. Downtown finished the storm with 16.5 inches. The municipal airport logged 21.3.

The day before had been the Dust Bowl's last joke: a brown Friday night, then a cold front that dropped the city from the 80s into the 30s. Saturday the snow was intermittent. Sunday afternoon it stopped being intermittent.\n\nTrees and shrubs were still in full leaf. The wet snow used the leaves as a net, loaded the branches, and snapped them. Property damage was estimated at $7 million in 1936 money. More than 3,000 workmen were called out. Off-duty firefighters and the reserves were told to report. Schools stayed open and half the students stayed home. Grade-schoolers were sent home at noon on the 28th. Stockmen still had cattle on the high range.\n\nThe high on the 27th itself was 35, still the lowest high ever recorded for the date. The official snow on the 27th is 0.81 inches of liquid, the wettest this calendar square has ever been. Greatest depth downtown reached 13 inches; the airport sat at 8. There were no high winds and traffic only paused. Warm air followed, and by the end of the month the snow was gone except in the shady spots.\n\nIt was the first snow of the season and the heaviest September total the city had ever seen that early. 1971 later beat the monthly mark with 17.2 inches. Nobody has beaten the 15-inch clock that started on this afternoon. The aspens can turn. The trees can keep their leaves. This date has already filed the paperwork for winter.

Sources: NWS Boulder public information statement · NWS notes via ThorntonWeather · FOX31 — 1936 September snowstorm · Extreme Weather Watch — Denver Sept. 27

The Broncos beat Pittsburgh 16-13 and start a sellout that is still going

1970 · Mile High Stadium, Denver

On Sept. 27, 1970, in their first home game after the AFL-NFL merger, the Broncos beat the Steelers 16-13 in front of 50,705 people. It was the largest sports crowd Colorado had seen. It was also the first sellout in a home streak the Colorado Sports Hall of Fame counted at 464 games through the 2025 season.

Lou Saban's club was 1-0 after Buffalo. Chuck Noll's Steelers were 0-1 and brought a rookie named Terry Bradshaw. Willis Crenshaw punched in from a yard in the first quarter. Pittsburgh answered with Dick Hoak and two Gene Mingo field goals, the second making it 13-7 in the third. Then rookie linebacker Dave Washington sacked Bradshaw in the end zone. Safety. 13-9.\n\nSteve Tensi found Billy Van Heusen for 38 yards. Bobby Howfield kicked it. 16-13. Mingo missed from 27 with 1:52 left. The papers called it the largest crowd to see a sports event in Colorado. Mile High held 50,705 and none of the seats were theoretical.\n\nThe streak that started that afternoon is the one people still use when they argue about whether this town shows up. Through 2025 it stood at 440 regular-season games and 24 postseason games. The 2020 season, when the stands were legally half-empty, was counted anyway: the maximum allowed still sold. Pittsburgh's own home streak is the closest chase. Green Bay and the Giants are further back.\n\nThe stadium in the picture is gone. The habit is not. You can still walk into Empower Field on a Sunday in late September and find the same math the 1970 crowd invented: every ticket spoken for, and a three-point game that feels like it might stay that way.

Sources: Denver Gazette — Top 150, Sept. 27, 1970 · Pro-Football-Reference — Steelers at Broncos, 1970 · 1970 game summary · Mile High Report — On this day, Sept. 27

The date keeps 92 and 25, a first freeze, and a day for the people who answer the bell

2017 · Colorado

Sept. 27 is Colorado First Responder Appreciation Day, designated in a 2017 memorial that passed the General Assembly without a no. The same square on the calendar has a 92-degree record high from 1953, a 25-degree record low from 1945 and 1996, 2.8 inches of first snow in 1935, and, in 1877, mountain-fire smoke riding the upper winds into town.

The average high is about 74. The sheet does not consider that binding.\n\nHottest official afternoon: 92 in 1953. Next in line is 90 in 2015, then a pile of 89s. Coldest morning: 25, tied in 1945 and 1996. In 1935 the first snow of the season was 2.8 inches downtown and the low hit 31, the first freeze. In 1984 the plains took 2 to 5 inches, the foothills took a foot, and snow-loaded limbs knocked out power to more than 15,000 metro homes. In 1996 the foothills ate 8 to 12 inches around Conifer while Stapleton only measured 4.7.\n\nIn 1877 there was no snow at all, just smoke from heavy forest fires in the mountains, spread over the city on the upper winds. Denver has been practicing that particular sky ever since.\n\nThe General Assembly put a name on the other half of the date in 2017. Senate Joint Memorial 17-003 designated Sept. 27 First Responder Appreciation Day. The vote was 64-0. The language is the usual civic thank-you, plus a nod to PTSD rates and the daily math of fire, ambulance, and patrol work. It fits a date that has already asked off-duty firefighters to report for a September snow, sent grade-schoolers home at noon, and filled a stadium with 50,705 people who expected someone to keep the exits clear.\n\nWear the layer. Wave at the engine. This date has done heat, freeze, first snow, mountain smoke, and a three-point football game without ever agreeing with itself.

Sources: Colorado General Assembly — SJM 17-003 · 9NEWS — First Responder Appreciation Day · Extreme Weather Watch — Denver Sept. 27 · NWS notes via ThorntonWeather