The folks in South Park and its two biggest towns — Fairplay and Como — know it was really windy last night.
The wind blew more than 100 mph.
But just how much more they aren’t sure.
The wind gauge goes up to 109 mph, said Lori Hodges, director of emergency management for Park County. By 9 p.m. Monday night, the gauge “was over that” and unable to measure the exact velocity, she said.
“This winter is the worst because of the winds,” Hodges said. “The winds have been much worse than normal.”
With the winds came whiteouts and treacherous driving as wind-whipped snow blew across the open flats of Park County.
“When I was driving in this morning, I could only see 25 feet in front of me,” said Hodges.
The 100 mph winds closed the main highways through South Park, including U.S. 285 from Kenosha Pass to Fairplay and Colorado 9 south from Fairplay to Hartsel.
At 2 p.m., the 285 stretch remained closed, but Colorado 9 from Fairplay to Hartsel was open.
Hodges said schools and county offices in Fairplay were closed for the day and that shelters were opened for stranded residents and travelers in Fairplay and Hartsel. She said the shelter at the Hartsel Community Center will be closed tonight but that the shelter at the Fairplay Fairgrounds is likely to be open.
Hodges said many people in Fairplay spent last night in hotels and motels in the mountain community.
“The weather is starting to improve,” she said, but the wind is still gusting.
Hodges said she had received reports of drifts 12 feet deep in some parts of Park County.
Delia Gilliland, who owns Como Mercantile and runs the post office in Como, said she has been unable to make it the 300 yards from her home to the store.
“We have never seen anything like this,” said Gilliland, who has lived in Como since 1982. “It is blowing like crazy. We have 15-foot-high snow drifts in my backyard.”
The wind, she said, reached 105 mph.
Gilliland said that the Como post office is officially closed, with “my mail on the other side of Kenosha Pass.”
She said her car has 5 feet of snow surrounding it.
David Meredith, owner of the historic Fairplay Hotel, when asked what the weather was like in Fairplay said: “My response is ‘Ha, ha, ha.’ ”
“We’ve had enough snow, and it’s blowing so hard we can’t see across the street at times,” said Meredith.
He said the hotel was packed last night with stranded motorists and local Park County residents and that it would probably be the same tonight.
“We are having a blast — the fireplace is roaring, and everyone is having hot toddies,” he said.
He said that the hotel’s restaurant is undergoing renovations but everyone there tonight would have deluxe “bar food,” including prime rib and snow crab, hot roast-beef sandwiches, homemade soup, homemade apple pie and ice cream.
At Prather’s Market, a local grocery store in Fairplay, cashier Sally Miller said they’ve been busy.
“A lot of people are trapped in town. We’ve sold a lot of food,” Miller said. Some of the customers are staying at the shelter at the Fairplay Fairgrounds, she said.
Miller, who has lived in Fairplay five years, said she has talked to residents who have lived in South Park for 12 years, and they’ve never seen the weather so bad.
Unfortunately, the weather in the high country is not expected to improve any time soon.
The National Weather Service forecast calls for another front packing more snow out of northern Utah, which is racing toward the Colorado mountains. It’s expected to hit the mountains tonight or early Wednesday.
Snow and blowing-snow advisories were posted for the mountains west and northwest of Denver. Up to 3 inches of snow was expected by this morning, forecasters said. Heavy snow and heavy winds in the northern mountains limited visibility through the night.
On Wednesday, there will be a 30 percent chance of snow in Denver with a high temperature of about 37 degrees, the weather service said.
Howard Pankratz: 303-954-1939 or hpankratz@denverpost.com
