Parts of Colorado were expected to receive as much as 3 feet of snow as a vigorous, slow-moving winter storm hobbled Interstate 70 and weighed down tree limbs Sunday night into today.
In the foothills, up to 20 inches of snow was forecast. In the metro area, the National Weather Service expected 3 to 5 inches overnight, with up to 9 inches more today.
Weather patterns over the Front Range had weather officials comparing this storm to the biggest recent early-winter storms.
Klause Wolter of Boulder, who works for the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration’s climate diagnostics center, predicted a storm second in October only to that of Oct. 24- 25, 1997, which dropped 19.1 inches of snow on Denver in a 24-hour period, setting the rec ord for the month.
“We’ll see the most accumulation in the eastern mountains, and even whiteout conditions in the Monument Hill area,” said Larry Walrod, the senior forecaster at the National Weather Service office in Pueblo.
Along the Front Range, metro communities were expected to see extensive damage to trees, with as much as a foot of soggy snow accumulating on limbs that still held leaves.
“This is a potentially devastating storm to vegetated trees,” the National Weather Service warned in an advisory. “Anybody venturing outdoors Monday should be alert for falling tree limbs.”
High winds caused power lines to slap together, and limbs drooping or falling onto power lines caused several power outages in the high country Sunday night, said Tom Henley of Xcel Energy. About 2,000 customers were affected.
“People should be ready to be in their homes without power for a while,” said Carl Burroughs of the NWS in Boulder.
Nearly all the mountain passes in central and southern Colorado were closed or under travel restrictions. Breckenridge had 18 inches by mid-evening.
“It’s pretty wet snow falling right now,” Colorado Department of Transportation spokeswoman Mindy Crane said Sunday evening. “But we’re already starting to see some icy conditions on the roads.”
Drivers on I-70 were socked in on the west side of the Continental Divide, said Pitkin County Sheriff’s Deputy Bruce Benson.
The interstate was closed in both directions on Vail Pass because of numerous wrecks, many of them involving jackknifed tractor-trailers that hadn’t been chained, Crane said.
The eastbound lanes of I-70 were closed at 7 p.m. for about 90 minutes, and the westbound lanes closed around 8 p.m. and stayed closed into the night.
But with several major ski areas in the region, some residents were taking the storm in stride.
“It’s all how you look at it, I guess,” said Sgt. Dave Martinez of the Summit County Sheriff’s Office. “Me, I’ve been waiting for this all year.”
Despite the blast of winter weather, road-maintenance officials expected only minor problems in the metro area.
“We’ve got all our equipment and trucks ready to go out,” Crane said. “The pavement temperatures are still pretty warm, so we’re not expecting too much accumulation.”
She cautioned drivers to be careful: “With this type of weather, people just need to drive a little more slowly.”
Staff writer Jim Kirksey contributed to this report.
