DENVER-
A thunderstorm cell spawned a funnel cloud over Denver International Airport, causing a change in the use of a runway but causing no damage and minimal delays.
The cloud was reported by a resident of Commerce City and confirmed by an Adams County sheriff’s deputy, sheriff’s spokeswoman Sgt. Candi Baker said.
DIA spokesman Chuck Cannon said the cloud passed over the northeast corner of the airport and didn’t cause any major disruptions.
“We made the annoucement that there was a tornado warning but we’re not moving anybody into the shelters because the tornado, or funnel cloud, is moving away from us,” Cannon said.
The South Platte River overflowed its banks near Platteville, about 25 miles north of Denver, but had receeded within its banks by Thursday, Weld County sherif’s spokeswoman Margie Martinez said.
This week’s storm, which unleashed tornadoes and hail along with the rain and snow, hampered the work of highway crews trying to clear a massive rock slide on Colorado 133 about 20 miles north of Paonia in western Colorado.
Rocks loosened by the freeze-and-thaw cycle tumbled onto the road on April 18, blocking travel in both directions, state Transportation Department spokeswoman Nancy Shanks said.
The storm gave a slight boost to the statewide snowpack but did little good in the mountains, the source of much of the water that feeds the region.
The statewide snowpack stood at only 76 percent of the 30-year average Wednesday, the same as a year ago. The total rose slightly from 73 percent from Monday.
The South Platte and Arkansas river basins in eastern Colorado were at or slightly above 100 percent of average, but basins in western Colorado ranged from 57 percent to 82 percent.
Eight major Colorado river systems, fueled partly by snowmelt, provide water to 10 Western states.
