"Is it snowing? Ahhhhhh! It's April for heaven's sake."
That was a typical comment overheard on a UTA bus Thursday in the midst of the morning's brief snowstorm in Davis County.
With snowfall levels in the Salt Lake Valley expected to stand at a 5,800-foot elevation Friday, it may not be over for this week either.
When was Salt Lake City's latest-ever snowfall, so we know when we're truly past the white stuff?
The answer depends on who you want to believe.
For the National Weather Service, the latest season snowfall at the Salt Lake International Airport (0.1 inch or more) is May 18. That record occurred in both 1960 and 1977, with 1 inch and 0.5 inch respectively being measured.
KSL's weathercasters peg the all-time record for latest snowfall at much later: in early summer on June 29, 1968.
"Old man winter scuttles June weather records" was the July 1, 1968, headline in the Deseret News, as some light snow fell in portions of Salt Lake City on that June 29 almost 42 years ago.
Windy conditions and blowing snow closed highways in Yellowstone National Park at the end of June 1968. Utah campers in shorts huddled around campfires in the daytime struggling to keep warm. Utah farmers reported severe crop damage as the lows at the Salt Lake City International Airport dipped to a record low of 40 degrees on July 1.
But by the afternoon of July 1, valley temperatures soared back into the 80s.
According to the Salt Lake office of the National Weather Service, there are an average of 6.8 inches of "normal" snowfall in April. May typically has 1.1 inches on average of the white stuff. June, July and August typically don't have any snowfall. September has 0.2 inches and October 2.1 inches.
— Here are some other late season snowfalls in Salt Lake City:
June 14-and 15, 1995: Snow lowers to the 7,000-foot level, The Alpine Loop is covered by 4 inches of snow; Alta receives 5 inches and Mount Timpanogos 9.
June 6, 1995: Snow in the morning sinks as low as the 4,3000-foot level in some Wasatch Front Valleys. Portions of west Layton greet about 2 inches of snow, while most areas have a skiff to an inch. But it melts quickly by noon.
May 20, 1975: Central Utah is hammered by extreme snowfall. Manilla has 22 inches; Fillmore 21 and Delta 20 inches.
May 12, 1995: Five inches of snow pelt Tooele. Davis County to Utah County towns find 1 to 3 inches of the white stuff.
May 1, 1964: Salt Lake City's benches are dumped on with 14 inches of snow.
April 30-May 1, 1988: Lake effect snow blasts Tooele with 13 inches, while Fillmore receives 6 inches.
April 23, 1958: Eighteen inches of snow fall in Salt Lake City, causing more than 50 traffic accidents.
After a rainy Friday in Salt Lake City, Saturday and Sunday are expected to be mostly sunny, with a high near 64 degrees.
There is a chance of rain on Tuesday night.
e-mail: lynn@desnews.com