A historic blizzard that hit Colorado on Sunday poured 60 centimeters of snow into the Denver area, shut off the power of tens of thousands of people, trapped others in their vehicles, closed main roads and will leave many schools and government offices closed on Monday -market.
The weekend snowstorm became the fourth largest ever recorded in Denver, with 60 centimeters of snow at the city’s official measurement point at Denver International Airport, starting at 6pm on Sunday – with snow forecast still to come a few more hours.
That total surpassed the 23.8 inches of snow that fell in Denver in December 1982 and is the largest snowfall in the city since 31.8 inches fell in March 2003.
“This was definitely a historic storm,” said Alan Reppert, a senior meteorologist at AccuWeather. “Definitely something that we can happily consider to be a very rare occurrence.”
As snow began to fall on Saturday night, the storm hit blizzard conditions around noon on Sunday, said meteorologist Jim Kalina of the National Weather Service in Boulder. This means that as the snow fell, the winds accelerated to at least 35 mph and reduced visibility beyond 400 meters for more than three hours.
Kalina expected snow conditions to continue until about midnight on Sunday. During that period, he predicted another 5 to 5 centimeters of snow in the metropolitan area.
Totals in the rest of the metropolitan area included 16 inches elsewhere in Denver, 24 inches in Arvada and 23.1 inches in Aurora and nearly 20 inches in Boulder, according to National Weather Service records. Colorado’s ski towns saw between 7 and 40 centimeters of snow, the first weather reports showed.
Reppert noted that Nederland reported about 36 inches of snowfall and that some areas are likely to “see about 40 inches when all is said and done”.
The blizzard has prompted Denver Public Schools and many other metropolitan area districts – including Douglas County, Adams 12, Cherry Creek and Littleton – to declare snow days on Monday, while fewer, such as Jeffco Public Schools, announced that students would take remote teaching lessons of the day.
A complete list of closed schools can be found at denverpost.com.
The snow was expected to continue early Monday morning, stopping at around 5 am, Kalina said. Temperatures are likely to reach a maximum of 37 degrees during Monday day and drop to 20 degrees overnight.
Airlines canceled hundreds of flights scheduled to leave the DIA on Sunday as the storm intensified, although about 10 planes managed to take off early in the morning. At around noon, the airport closed all six runways due to snow and poor visibility, although the terminal and lounges remained open to passengers.
And in the late afternoon, DIA officials asked people not to try to drive to the airport, declaring that Peña Boulevard was impassable with several vehicles stranded along the road.
Earlier in the day, heavy snowfall forced authorities to close several sections of Interstates 70 and 25 near Denver, far away in the Eastern Plains and northern Colorado, which leads to the Wyoming border.
For every truck that AAA Colorado had on the road on Sunday afternoon, there were eight calls to the emergency service, spokesman Skyler McKinley said in a tweet. In addition, at least four trucks of the organization also had to be rescued.
News: We just learned that we are receiving 8 emergency service calls for every 1 truck we have on the road. In addition, 4 of our own trucks are in the process of being rescued. You know it’s not safe to drive if even the AAA trucks are stuck. Don’t drive! #cowx
– Skyler McKinley (@SkylerMcKinley) March 14, 2021
“You know it’s not safe to drive, even if AAA trucks are stuck,” wrote McKinley.
Weld County police officers – hard hit by snow and wind – rescued at least six drivers arrested early Sunday afternoon, including the driver of a tumbled-out trailer.
Weld County Sheriff Joe Moylan said that while his aides used an excess military transport vehicle during rescues, even that 25-ton mine-resistant vehicle needed the help of a Colorado Department of Transportation plow to reach the arrested drivers. Visibility dropped to 2 meters, he said, forcing deputies to respond only to calls for life and death at the time.
“The wind is as bad as snow, there is almost no visibility outside,” said Moylan during the storm.
At the same time, hundreds of power outages in the metropolitan area and northern Colorado have left tens of thousands of Xcel Energy customers without electricity. As of 6:30 pm, 24,437 customers were without power, mainly around Greeley, according to the Xcel website. Jefferson County – mainly Westminster and Arvada – and Larimer County also saw thousands of people without power during the day.
Heavy snow, strong winds, broken power poles and more caused the outages and more than 600 people worked to restore energy, an Xcel spokeswoman told the Denver Post. In total, more than 152,000 customers experienced some kind of interruption, although many included momentary interruptions that lasted only a few seconds.
The stoppage lasted for hours for Caroline Maxwell and her three children, however. She said the family lost power around 8 am and kept themselves busy while her husband, who works in the oil and gas industry, was clearing the sites of snow.
The family lives on the west side of Johnstown and Maxwell said he was not sure when the power would return. She thanked him because no one in her family had a health problem that required electricity to stay healthy and she stocked up on meat and dairy products before the snow started to fall.
“I don’t think anyone can say that they didn’t expect this or were not warned about the storm,” said Maxwell.
While many awaited the return of electricity, others prepared to stay home on Monday, as many school districts and government offices announced they would close due to the weather. The Colorado Legislative Assembly canceled Monday and all state government offices in Denver and throughout the metropolitan area will also be closed.
Northglenn, Longmont, Commerce City and Arapahoe County were among the counties that announced the closure of their government offices on Monday.
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Heads up #COLeg:Due to bad weather, the Chamber will not meet tomorrow, Monday, March 15.
Stay safe and avoid traveling if possible!#COPolitics
❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️– COHouseDems (@COHouseDem) March 14, 2021