Is that snow?

ASPEN ” The first snow of the season fell Thursday night in the upper Roaring Fork Valley. But residents had to look up to see it.

A slight dusting of the white stuff was visible Friday morning on the tip of Pyramid Peak, a fourteener near Aspen, as well as on the high peaks of Independence Pass east of town and on the Cirque at Snowmass, which tops out at 12,510 feet. No snow was evident on the peak of Highland Bowl, at 12,392 feet, as viewed from Aspen.

Overnight lows last night in the city of Aspen hit 48 degrees, according to the National Weather Service, but temperatures evidently dipped considerably lower in the high country.

Mountain snow isn’t unusual in late August, according to Mike Baker, National Weather Service meteorologist.

He said the snow fell mostly above 13,000 feet and was more granular than the flakey snow that’s common during winter and spring storms.

Heavy rains swept through the Roaring Fork Valley Thursday night with a storm that moved quickly east, according to the weather service. Warmer, dryer weather is expected for the weekend.

The rainstorm turned local rivers ” the lower Fryingpan above Basalt and the Roaring Fork below its confluence with the Pan ” red again, but the silty water was already clearing by Friday morning, according to Tim Heng at Taylor Creek Fly Shop in Basalt.

It does not appear that the rains produced a repeat of the Aug. 6 mudslide at Seven Castles in the Fryingpan River drainage, which muddied waters for a couple of weeks.