DENVER—Transportation officials were to use 74 snow plows overnight and into Wednesday morning to deal with a spring storm that was expected to drop more than a foot of snow in some parts of the Denver metro area.
Stretches of Interstate 70 were closed Tuesday evening, and the Colorado Department of Transportation said driving conditions around Denver were hampered by poor visibility and blowing snow.
Up to 16 inches of snow could drop on some parts of the metro area by Wednesday afternoon, and as many as 20 inches were expected in the foothills, the National Weather Service said.
Breckenridge, Rocky Mountain National Park and other mountain areas were expected to get between 6 to 12 inches of snow by Wednesday.
KUSA-TV said that about 15,000 customers were without power throughout Denver, with some outages also in Thornton. Xcel Energy said it was working to restore power.
The storm also caused problems at Denver International Airport, where planes were sitting for long periods of time to be deiced. Airport spokesman Chuck Cannon told KUSA that the Federal Aviation Administration had imposed a ground hold on arriving flights so the airport could clear a backlog of departures.
It wasn’t immediately known how flights had been delayed or canceled.
Transportation officials said roads were mostly slushy, but slick in some places. Road closures included I-70 between Vail and Vail pass, eastbound I-70 from Silverthorne to the Eisenhower Tunnel, and I-70 from Idaho Springs to Genesee. I-25 was also closed for a 30-mile stretch south of Denver from Parker to Greenland.
Spring snow is common in Colorado, with March historically being one of the snowiest months of the year.
Denver Public Schools, Aurora Public Schools, and Douglas County Schools are all closed Wednesday.
