While many reveled in a relatively rare white Christmas, commuters experienced a holiday traffic hangover today.
Parts of I-25 and I-70 were icy and snowpacked in areas. There were accidents reported on I-225 SB, I-270 EB and US-36 EB.
Drivers were urged to allow extra time.
The National Weather Service forecast for today calls for partly sunny skies, with a high near 33. And the forecast for tonight calls for a 40 percent chance of snow beginning after 1 a.m. with another inch of snow accumulation possible. During the day Thursday, more snow is likely with a high near 24 and new snow accumulation of 2 to 4 inches possible.
Between 3 and 10 inches of snow fell in Denver neighborhoods on Christmas, with more than 12 inches reported in the foothills in Jefferson County.
The Tuesday snowstorm marked the second straight year parts of the state have enjoyed a white Christmas. And Denver set a record for the most snowfall on Christmas Day in 107 years.
While major roads were generally kept clear Tuesday, side streets throughout the area were another matter.
Denver’s public works department did not mobilize its fleet of small 4×4 pickup trucks to plow neighborhood streets because the snow was not expected to reach the level of a “major event,” which is defined as 12 inches or more, said department spokeswoman Ann Williams.
Crews were using larger plows on major arterials and other high-traffic streets — those with “stripes,” Williams said.
If residents see areas that need particular attention from city crews, they should call the 311 city help line, she said.
After last winter’s blizzards, public works officials in Denver created a plan to make a pass on residential streets after major snowfalls with plows mounted on pickups.
A year ago, many streets throughout the area stayed snow-packed and ice-rutted for weeks after the twin snowfalls that hit around the Christmas holiday.
Metro Denver wasn’t the only area reporting snow. Some of the state’s ski resorts, which have been enjoying some of the best early snow conditions in years, reported anywhere from 6 new inches of snow in Vail to 19 inches in Steamboat Springs.
Planes at Denver International Airport were de-icing, but flight delays were not expected to be significant, according to DIA spokesman Chuck Cannon. Airport crews have been out working in 12-hour shifts since last night.
“Things are running pretty normal,” Cannon said.
The airport’s main road, Peña Boulevard, was snowpacked and icy in spots.
United Airlines canceled about 50 flights — or 14 percent of its its scheduled departures — to the Midwest from Denver as well as some flights in Chicago.
The cancellations were in response to the Midwest storms, said United spokeswoman Robin Urbanski. United consolidated many of those flights, but some passengers had to spend the night at the airport waiting for flights.
The Colorado State Patrol reported a number of minor car crashes in the metro area, and so-called “slide-offs” — where cars slip off the road but don’t cause major injuries or property damage.Last Christmas, the Denver area had 15 inches of snow on the ground from the winter storm Dec. 20-21.
The whitest Christmas in Denver was in 1982, when there was 2 feet of snow on the ground. The biggest snowfall on Christmas — before Tuesday’s — was in 1912, when the city received nearly 2 inches.
Karen Crummy: 303-954-1594 or kcrummy@denverpost.com
By the numbers
3-10 — Inches of snow recorded by the National Weather Service in Denver metro area, the most on Christmas Day in more than 100 years. Some residents who shoveled walks and driveways reported higher totals.
2 — Previous record Christmas snowfall in 1912, in inches.
24 — Inches on the ground on Christmas Day 1982.
This article has been corrected in this online archive. Originally, due to an editing error, it incorrectly quoted United Airlines spokeswoman Robin Urbanski as attributing Christmas Day flight cancellations in Denver to staffing issues.
