Colorado Blizzard

[S&W Fan]

In the 35 years I've lived in the Denver metro area I've never seen such conditions. Sadly a state trooper lost his life helping a stuck motorist. Another driver lost control (possibly going too fast) and struck him.

Highways were shut down all over the place, businesses and schools as well. People stuck for hours. Thankfully the worst for me was no power for about 5 hours. I had my 5 yr. old grandson with me, had a fun day planned, took him home after the power went out. My 16 yr. old Tahoe trudged on just fine.

Visibility was about 2 car lengths and thankfully the people around me were taking it very easy. Hope you all impacted are alright.

 

[two-bit cowboy]

Really sad to hear about the trooper.

Wyoming was "closed" yesterday.

We're digging out. Seven degrees this morning at dawn's crack. The powder will be easy to blow out.

 

[sigp220.45]

As a veteran of Minot ND and Cut Bank MT this was like old times. One more cup of coffee and its time to start shoveling.

 

[steveno]

I-80 was closed from Kearney west to Wyoming

 

[Smoke]

As of 7 AM MDT there are still people stuck in their cars on I 25 between Monument and Denver

 

[nachogrande]

WHITE CHRISTMAS 1982? DENVER.

It was Christmas eve, The snow started app noon. I parked my motorcycle next to my Bros city bus/camper. By afternoon the snow was over my mirrors, the next morning you couldn't see the bus. Cars were abandoned in the streets, last minute shoppers spent the night in stores. The airport & most roads were closed for days & a good week to get back to normal. Snowmobiles were taking essential people to/from work. XC skiing over all the abandoned vehicles for a beer run was cool.

 

[nachogrande]

GIVE POOR DAWN A BLANKET.

Really sad to hear about the trooper.

Wyoming was "closed" yesterday.

We're digging out. Seven degrees this morning at dawn's crack. The powder will be easy to blow out.

Somebody had to say it.

 

[arjay]

My new washer showed up at the start of the storm (Lowe's is the best) and then the power went out.Moved the chicken stew out to the barbee and let it simmer for a few hours on the patio while I built a nice fire in the fireplace and found some old magazines to read.We lost power for only three hours.Ive got anywhere from 2-12" of frozen sludge

 

[Rpg]

Today my granddaughter gets her second snow day off this week (4th of the year).

Yesterday she and I drove around a bit and stopped at a couple stores in the blizzard.

We watched pickup trucks slide around and several get stuck. A bunch of front wheel drive vehicles stuck on slight inclines. Some 4 wheel drive suvs spun into the ditch. Exciting driving. Visibility was limited to a few feet.

Today it's cold but the storm is over.

 

[THE PILGRIM]

It was pretty ugly down this way.
How ugly?
The wind blew a freight train off the Canadian River Trestle.
That's near Logan NM.

 

[Targets Guy]

We had a humdinger just north of Colorado Springs back in the mid 60's. No school for almost a week IIRC. We walked to the chow hall in tunnels cut in the snow.

 

[kthom]

Pilgrim,
That's a pretty deep ditch there. Been across it many, many times! It will take a long while to clean up the mess! Haven't heard yet, but it appears the engine made it across before the dominoes started falling. Whether it yanked the engines off the track or not, I'm sure it was quite an experience!

 

[Rustyt1953]

I feel a bit guilty as it's 73° and raining here.

I hope you folks get dug out soon.

 

[S&W Fan]

Most streets and roads in the metro are fine now. Met some friends for coffee at 9:30, stayed for a couple of hours. One guy is trying to get to Omaha to see ill family and was concerned that many highways were still closed. Haven't heard on his progress.

About to head to Parker to watch the munchkins for a couple of hours, should be much better than yesterday. It'll be a bit before the airport gets caught up on canceled flights and the rest of the roads further (farther?-always get those two mixed up lol) out get cleared.

 

[joeintexas]

We have a son living in the metro Denver area, he says they had very high winds and snow but didn't lose power in his place. Said it got a little exciting driving home though.

 

[Dashriprock]

Yep, pretty good one yesterday. Was home by noon and it was getting hairy over here in the foothills. Was expecting more snow. That wind was bad but clearly much worse farther east.

Thinking back to the last one that impressed me and that was March 2003 -- that one was 30 inches or so:

 

[Smoke]

Yep, pretty good one yesterday. Was home by noon and it was getting hairy over here in the foothills. Was expecting more snow. That wind was bad but clearly much worse farther east.

Thinking back to the last one that impressed me and that was March 2003 -- that one was 30 inches or so:

I remember that one I was working at SynthesUSA in Monument. 70 people got snowed in the plant. The owner had a diner in Monument bringing food in on snow mobiles.

October of 97 it dumped 4 feet of snow in less than 24 hours. The governor declared a state of emergency and mobilized the National Guard and they closed ALL roads in Colorado

 

[Rustyt1953]

At this moment the sirens are going off and my trees are doing the limbo.

Stay tuned.

 

[nachogrande]

BIG ONES

The BIG ones are measured in feet, not inches. The real danger with the Denver Christmas eve blizzard of 82 was from the wind sucking the air from your lungs & people getting lost just a few feet away from their vehicles due to zero visability. The most deaths were from shoveling snow, NO DEATHS reported from staying inside & drinking beer.

 

[nachogrande]

RUSTY'S CHECKLIST

BEER, MORE BEER, wood, batteries, HERBAL MEDS, check check and check! Matches/lighter DOI! Rubbing 2 sticks together is good cardio.