Celebrate Western Colorado’s Awesome Snow With Classic Photos

It's been snowing in Grand Junction, Colorado for close to 24 hours, and there's no end in sight. If you love snow, or even if you don't, you'll have fun with these classic Robert Grant photos of Western Colorado winters of the past.

The Grand Junction area is under a Winter Weather Advisory through 6 p.m. tonight, Wednesday, February 15, 2023. While snow isn't exactly something new to Western Colorado, we don't always get as much as we'd like. This is how Western Colorado used to roll under conditions like those we're experiencing today.

Get our free mobile app

This Is Western Colorado

Yep, today it's a Winter Weather Advisory with a high temperature of 30 and a chance of at least another inch of snow. Coming up Sunday, the National Weather Service predicts sunny skies with a high in the mid-40s. That's pretty much the norm around here. This is why it's so much fun to share these classic photos. Weather comes and goes, changing every 15 minutes around here. With that, it's necessary to have a periodic reminder of what Western Colorado can look like.

About The Photographer, Robert Grant

Robert Grant was the Chief Photographer at the Daily Sentinel from the late 1930s until his retirement in the mid-1980s, minus four years for his tour in World War II.

I was visiting Bob's grave at the Palisade Municipal Cemetery last Sunday (February 12, 2023). That visit was a reminder Bob's 100th birthday is coming up this May. With that, it's time to make the push to get his collection of photos back in circulation.

Fun Stuff & Some Not-So-Fun Stuff In The Galleries Below

First and foremost, Bob Grant was a photojournalist. He enjoyed covering "news" events. From time to time, though, he would pause to take candid photos of people having fun. Some of these used to wind up in the free Robert Grant calendars that used to be circulated by Mesa Federal Bank. Others, like many in the gallery, wound up on the darkroom floor, never to be seen again, or at least until now.

The photo above was taken on Main Street in Grand Junction. Look at the background and you'll see the Avalon Theatre. It's hard to tell, but it looks as though the marquee may feature the 1957 movie "Don't Go Near The Water" starring Glenn Ford and Gia Scala.

Some of the images below involve skiing, tubing, snowmobiling, area wildlife, and snowplows. Others might be something as simple as street lights along 7th Street in Grand Junction, or a nighttime shot of the lights in Lincoln Park.