About 4,500 customers in the Denver and Boulder areas remained without power this afternoon, but energy crews hope to restore nearly everyone by this evening, Xcel Energy said this afternoon.
In all, about 36,500 homes and businesses lost power as a spring storm dropped heavy, wet snow on power lines and tree limbs Tuesday and early today.
Major distribution lines — those with from 500 to 8,000 customers — were restored first, and crews then moved on to smaller, more local outages, including snapped lines leading into individual homes that are slower to reach and repair, said Xcel spokesman Mark Stutz.
“We may still have some outages tomorrow, as people get home and discover they don’t have power or any variety of reasons,” he said.
In the metro area, icy or snowy roads aren’t likely to be a problem for commuters, because of a fast meltoff and good drying this afternoon, according to Denver Public Works.
Drivers should watch out for huge water puddles on portions of highways, because of the runoff and clogged drainage, so hydroplaning could become a risk, officials warned.
“Drivers should keep their eyes open for pools of water in low areas on the roadway, and be careful of hydroplaning and severe splash-back,” said Ann Williams, of public works, in a media release.
Far-flung areas were hit hard by the storm that blew into Colorado Tuesday afternoon and pounded the Front Range and foothills through the night.
Areas in the foothills of Jefferson and Boulder counties were buried under more than 20 inches of snow. Pinecliff reported 26 inches, according to the National Weather Service. Denver International Airport received 10 inches.
The storm is heading south. The National Weather Service calls for snow in the Denver area to be winding down through the day, and the sun is trying to break through clouds this afternoon.
Skies over Denver should be sunny on Thursday and the high temperature should climb to about 49 degrees.
Long stretches of major highways in the metro area are in good shape as relatively warm street surface temperatures allowed snowplows to scrap roads to the pavement.
“Pavement temperatures are so warm we haven’t seen ice bond to the pavement. That makes snow removal that much easier,” said Stacey Stegman, a CDOT spokeswoman.
Scott Reed, an RTD spokesman, said based on bus and light rail ridership, and traffic volume in general this morning, a large number of commuters either delayed or abandoned their commute, Reed said.
“There are low traffic volumes,” Reed said. “A lot of people are staying home, especially with the schools closed.”
CDOT spokeswoman Stegman agreed that traffic volume around the system was way down.
“We don’t know if people are staying home or working on a delayed schedule,” Stegman said. “We’ll see. It’s great for our crews — it makes snow removal that much easier.”
Kieran Nicholson: 303-954-1822 or knicholson@denverpost.com.
