Snow at Cross Lutheran Church in Minnesota on May 12, 1946.

(Maplewood Area Historical Society)

As we begin tracking the next snowstorm of the season, which has already dumped over a foot of snow in the Front Range, we wanted to look back at other notable May snowstorms.

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May snowfall is nothing unusual for the Rocky Mountains, but pretty much everywhere else, it's rare. One of the more recent May snowstorms outside the Rockies was on May 18, 2002 in Upstate New York. After hitting 91 degrees on April 17, Albany had its latest snowfall on record as two inches of snow blanketed the city.

On May 7, 1989, a record-setting May snowfall occurred in Buffalo, New York; 7.9 inches fell, shattering the old record which was 80 years old. Not only was that the greatest for any calendar day in May, but it was the greatest 24-hour snow May as well as the greatest amount of snow so late in the season.

Upstate New York doesn't hold the market on May snowstorms. The Midwest sees the occasional freak May snowstorm as well. A May 10, 1990 storm brought 3 inches to Madison and Milwaukee, Wis., and a record-crushing 22.4 inches to Marquette, Mich.

An even later storm brought 5 to 10 inches of snow to the tri-state Siouxland area near Sioux City, Iowa, on May 28, 1947.

Other notable May snowstorms:

May 1, 1967 - Blizzard across the Dakotas; 16" snow in Lemmon, S.D. and 30" in the Black Hills.May 3, 1990 - Record snow in Pueblo, Colo.; 9.4" snow.May 4, 1812 - Philadelphia to Maine; 12" near Keene, N.H.May 9, 1966 - Record snow in northeast Ohio and western Pennsylvania; 3.1" in Pittsburgh.May 10, 1977 - Interior southern New England slammed; 20" in Norfolk, Conn. and 9.5" at Bedford, Mass. (but only 0.5" in Boston).May 11-12, 1946 - Minnesota; 8" reported in Virginia, Minn. (photo above) May 14, 1834 - Greatest May snowstorm for northern Atlantic coastal states; 2-3' in higher elevations of N.H.May 20 and 24, 1894 - Twin snowstorms in central and eastern Kentucky; 2-8" with the first, up to 6" with the second.

A few city-by-city facts on May snow:

Denver: Not unusual. The top 10 May snow days since 1874 all had at least 6 inches of snow.Amarillo, Texas: Surprisingly, 7.1" fell here May 6, 1917. Second place: 4.7" May 2, 2005, not long ago.Minneapolis: Just six 1" snow days in May since 1875; top day was 2.8" May 11, 1946.Chicago: Only two 1" snow events in May since 1884: 2.2" May 1-2, 1940, and 1.3" May 3-4, 1907.Omaha, Neb.: Only four days with any measurable snow in May since 1881 (tops: 2" May 9, 1945).Des Moines, Iowa: Had two separate snows on May 3 and May 15 in 1907; snowed again 10 years later May 3, 1917.Kansas City: Only one measurable snow on record in May, also on May 3, 1907 (1.7").St. Louis: Only two May snowfalls on record: 4" May 2, 1929, and 0.2" May 6, 1998.Wichita, Kan.: No measurable snow ever recorded in the month of May!

"It is very difficult to get a major snowstorm in the lower elevations of the U.S. in May," said weather.com meteorologist Nick Wiltgen. "Even on May 1 you're only seven weeks away from the summer solstice, and with that comes strong sun and long days adding heat to the atmosphere.

"But if you can get some really cold air to pair up with a storm, there's usually plenty of moisture in the air by May so those rare snowstorms can happen."

More on weather.com: Winter Storm Zeus

Boulder, Colo.

Elementary school students are dropped off at class as Winter Storm Zeus dropped snow over Boulder, Colo., Tuesday April 23, 2013. The Colorado Avalanche Information Center says avalanche danger there is considerable. (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley)