DENVER – A major interstate in Colorado is shut down west of Denver and hundreds of flights are canceled Thursday as the biggest snowstorm since 2021 dumps heavy snow across the Front Range of the Rockies. The winter storm could dump a foot or more of snowfall in the Denver metro area while several feet of snow pile up in the mountains west of the city.
The Colorado Department of Transportation closed a 50-plus-mile stretch of Interstate 70 in both directions between the western side of the Denver metro and Silverthorne, Colorado, due to safety concerns from the winter weather. Commercial vehicles are also prohibited driving from Vail to Morrison through at least noon Friday.
“We’re having trouble with commercial motor vehicles,” Matthew Inzeo of the Colorado DOT told FOX Weather. “Those 18-wheelers who aren’t following the law are trying to sneak through and not put chains on their tires, and that’s not doing too well when you’ve got conditions this extreme.”
“We are pulling the semi trucks out one at a time. They are stuck on a pretty steep grade,” Inzeo said of the Eisenhower Tunnel area of I-70. “But once that is complete, we think that our plows can make a couple passes.”
I-25 is no better. The Colorado State Patrol posted on social media, “Don’t be fooled! It’s icy and snow-packed. Ramps and side streets are even worse!”
Inzeo said the DOT’s 1,600 crews are working around the clock on 12-and-a-half-hour shifts until the storm moves out and every lane is clear. The state has a total of 875 plows of which 100 are dedicated to Denver and another 40 handling the “ski corridor” which is from Denver to the Continental Divide past ski resorts.
Colorado Springs officials warned that residential streets might not be plowed until Saturday.
A snow plow had to come to the rescue after an ambulance, responding to a medical emergency, got stuck in Highlands Ranch.
As of Thursday midday, up to 45.5 inches of snow had already piled up in Aspen Springs in the San Juan Mountains of southwestern Colorado.
Closer to the Denver metro area, Aspen Park, Colorado, which sits at about 8,400 feet in elevation in the Front Range of the Rockies some 30 miles southwest of Denver, had reported 36 inches of snowfall.
Denver officially recorded 9 inches of snow and counting as of Thursday afternoon.
After a relative lull in snowfall Thursday morning, snow is falling in earnest again across Denver and winds are gusting to 35 mph. The FOX Forecast Center said the heavy snow should continue through the evening and into Friday.
Not everyone was put out by all the snow. Marley from the Denver Metro area looked more like a puppy than a 13-year old lab.
This powerful winter storm comes three years to the day Denver saw its last high-impact snowstorm, when the Mile High City saw well over 2 feet of snow during the storm on March 14, 2021.
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While the FOX Forecast Center doesn’t expect snowfall totals as high as the March 2021 storm, the city of Denver is expected to pick up between 8 and 12 inches of snow. However, a wide range of totals is expected across the Denver metro area because of the varying elevations along the Front Range.
Boulder could see more than a foot of snow since it’s at a slightly higher elevation than Denver.
“The western suburbs are going to see higher totals,” FOX Weather Meteorologist Britta Merwin said. “So, if you live in Littleton and Morrison going up into the foothills, you’re going to see a lot more than what you’re going to see if you live in Aurora.”
Two to 4 feet of snow is expected for mountain and foothill communities like Golden, Morrison and Nederland. Idaho Springs could see 2-3 feet of snow from this winter storm.
Additional travel impacts are expected, especially on major highways such as Interstate 25, Interstate 70 and Interstate 80.
“Don’t travel into the foothills! If you do, be prepared to be stranded for an extended period of time,” the National Weather Service office in Boulder warned. “In Boulder and Denver metro, difficult travel and many neighborhood streets may become impassable.”
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Additionally, more than 800 flight cancelations, almost half of all inbound and outbound flights, were reported at Denver International Airport as of Thursday morning, according to FlightAware.
Ahead of the storm, Denver Public School officials announced all schools and administrative offices would be closed on Thursday and Friday due to weather. The U.S. Air Force Academy north of Colorado Springs also announced it would be closed on Thursday and canceled all classes.
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The weight of the heavy, wet snow could even bring down trees and large branches that might fall onto power lines, leading to scattered power outages.
Utility companies are working hard to keep up with the outages.
“And they just keep falling,” posted West Metro Fire about the power lines blocking streets.
The snow will continue for much of Thursday and Thursday night before winding down early Friday.
However, snow is expected to continue on Friday in the mountains of southern Colorado, New Mexico and Arizona.