DENVER—A wintry blast dropped temperatures below zero across much of Colorado on Monday after a weekend storm left more than a foot of snow in the mountains.
A Ski Patrol member was found dead Sunday night in an avalanche outside the Aspen Mountain ski area, where 14 inches of snow fell. The incident was under investigation.
The temperature in Denver dipped to a record 19 below zero at about 2:30 a.m. Monday, breaking the previous Dec. 15 record of minus 6 set in 1951.
About a third of the 370 buses in the state’s largest school district either wouldn’t start or couldn’t finish their routes Monday morning because of cold-related engine and fuel problems.
Jefferson County Public Schools just west of Denver has about 85,000 students. Spokeswoman Melissa Reeves didn’t know how many students were affected but said it was in the thousands.
Authorities said the extreme cold may have been the culprit behind a natural gas leak that prompted authorities to evacuate about 75 people from their homes in the small town of LaPorte, 60 miles north of Denver.
The Poudre Fire Authority said a valve malfunction caused the high-pressure line to vent gas into the air. No injuries were reported and residents were allowed to go home about 3 1/2 hours later.
The Pitkin County Sheriff’s Department said the body of Ski Patrolman Cory Brettman, 52, was found in an avalanche 100 yards long and 30 yards wide outside the boundaries of the Aspen Mountain Ski area Sunday.
Sheriff’s Deputy Joe Bauer said Brettman did not have a pulse and was not breathing when he was found. No other details have been released.
At Vail Mountain, a skier was caught in an avalanche inside the resort boundaries on Sunday but wasn’t injured, said Scott Toepfer of the Colorado Avalanche Information Center.
The center said Monday that the current avalanche danger is “considerable” or higher in all of Colorado’s mountain areas.
“A considerable avalanche danger means that human-triggered avalanches are probable, and spontaneous avalanches are possible,” the center said. “In the U.S., most fatal accidents occur when the avalanche danger rating is considerable.”
The temperature was 13 below during Denver’s Monday morning commute, and traffic was snarled by ice and snow lingering from the weekend.
Denver’s Road Home, a partnership between the city and county of Denver and Mile High United Way, announced Monday afternoon it was opening an emergency shelter for homeless men because of the extremely low temperatures expected this week. The shelter will be open in the evenings through Sunday.
It was minus 14 in Leadville Monday morning, minus 6 in Colorado Springs, minus 8 in Sterling and 13 above in Grand Junction.
“It’s just cold and snowy and icy,” said Nancy Doty, a secretary at Doty Farms, a trucking business in Fort Morgan about 75 miles northeast of Denver. “We haven’t had this kind of a cold spell for quite some time.”
The temperature in Fort Morgan reached only 2 above zero by midday.
Colorado Department of Transportation spokesman Bob Wilson said winter driving conditions persisted across much of the state.
“It’s not really snowing in those areas, it’s just leftovers from the weekend,” he said.
Another storm was headed for Colorado, and it could drop another foot or two of snow in parts of the mountains. The state’s southwestern corner was expected to get the most.
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On the Net:
Colorado Avalanche Information Center,
Denver’s Road Home,
