Parker residents busy after spring snowstorm weighs down trees

PARKER, Colo. – Much of Saturday’s springtime snowfall could be seen on grassy areas, parked cars and trees around the Metro area.

The weight of Saturday’s snow was too heavy for some trees in that area. Several had broken branches -- some snapped and were impeding sidewalks.

Neighbors were busy shaking snow from trees outside of their homes.

Denver7 caught Clarke Farms Drive resident John Graff clearing snow by repeatedly throwing a basketball into the tree in his front yard.

“It looks great until the branches start breaking,” Graff said.

He has lived in Parker for the last 20 years. He said every year he usually comes out and knocks snow out of the tree, “last spring I didn’t do that and a huge branch broke off.”

Graff demonstrated several ways to shake the snow including using a painter's pole and multiple basketballs.

A few doors down, Steve Mato and his wife Sarah said their preparation came overnight.

“Just getting up in the middle of the night. We did that before we went to bed -- knocked some of the snow off," he said.

He added, “We learned on the [storm], two years ago, to come out and check a little bit more often than you normally would.”

For the hundreds of thousands of new metro area residents who experienced Saturday’s spring snowstorm for the very first time, Graff offered this piece of advice, “Get a painter’s pole. Go out and buy it. You can paint the house in the spring when you’re done knocking off your trees.”

Whatever your method, get familiar and be ready to make it a yearly habit.

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