A blizzard continues to pound Castle Rock and parts of the Eastern Plains even as the storm moves out of most of the Denver area.
The blizzard warning has expired in Denver. But a blizzard warning will remain in effect until 11 a.m. Tuesday for Castle Rock and the Eastern Plains, according to Jim Kalina, meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Boulder.
Early Tuesday morning, school districts including Douglas County School District, Cherry Creek School District and Aurora Public Schools announced .
Early morning snow totals showed 4 inches reported at Denver International Airport, where 150 flights have been canceled for Tuesday.
Much of the moisture in Denver fell in the form of rain before temperatures started dropping. A quarter-inch of rain fell at DIA before it started snowing. The low temperature overnight was 29 degrees at the airport, Kalina said.
John Randolph, who waited at a bus stop in downtown Denver early Tuesday morning, said he bundled up for nothing.
“Where is all the snow?” Randolph said. “I was told there would be snow, and I wanted some.”
Randolph said he hasn’t seen a “real snow” downtown in at least five years.
“This is the closest thing I’ve seen, and there’s barely any,” he said, gesturing to lightly-dusted sidewalks and roadways near Civic Center.
Some areas remained above freezing through the night including Boulder, which registered a low temperature of 34 degrees. Although it snowed some in Boulder, it melted quickly, Kalina said.
“It was a just a real wet snow,” he said.
Forecasts for this storm fluxuated up and down several times the past week, with the latest estimates ranging from 8 to 16 inches in Denver.
A lot less snow fell in Denver. The Stapleton area received only 2 inches of snow by 3 a.m., Kalina said.
Much more snow fell east and south of Denver. Castle Rock received 8 inches, Centennial got 6 inches and Ponderosa Park got 15 inches of snow.
“They were hit pretty hard. It’s still coming down pretty good. They could get around 18 inches of snow before this is over,” he said.
Paul Calvin works at the Travel Centers of American general store in Limon.
When he peered outside on Tuesday morning, he liked what he saw, although he could not see much.
“The snow is bad,” Calvin said. “It’s blowing. Visibility is like 15 feet, but I like the snow. I wouldn’t want to be in it, but I think it looks nice.”
Calvin said he was prepared for the storm.
“I think it’s normal for this time of year. Maybe a little earlier than usual, but nothing we haven’t seen.”
Roads in the Denver area were reported to be wet, with some wintery conditions, with areas to the south and east of the metro reporting more snowpacked roads.
“We did get the blizzard, but it didn’t snow as much as expected along the foothills,” Kalina said.
Kalina described the storm as following a “sharp line,” dropping little to no snow in Boulder, Fort Collins and Longmont, where the blizzard warning was canceled.
Eastern areas of Colorado such as Fort Morgan and the Byers area will remain under a blizzard warning until 11 a.m. and the northeast corner of Colorado and Limon will remain under a blizzard warning until 2 p.m.
Colorado Department of Transportation tweeted around 4 a.m. that Interstate 70 was closed in both directions at E-470 to Limon due to heavy snow and white-out conditions.
The mountains didn’t get as much as forecasters had predicted. As much as 20 inches was expected.
Winter Park and Vail received 8 inches and Breckenridge received 6 inches of snow.
Temperatures are expected to rebound quickly, when the sun breaks through the clouds in the Denver area in the afternoon. The high temperature for Tuesday is expected to be 40 degrees.
Between Wednesday and Friday high temperatures will reach the low-to-mid 40s and it will remain dry.
The sidewalks were clear and the grass peeped through the snow on Tuesday in Sloans Lake Park in Denver.
A handful of runners ran around the lake where geese huddled in groups on the water. Justin Merrill stopped to take a picture of a tree full of red leaves.
Halfway into his commute from Highlands Ranch, Merrill got a call from his boss that they were not opening until 10 a.m.
“Now I have two hours to kill,” Merrill said smiling.
Merrill, who works as a photographer and graphic artist, had left his home at 6:30 a.m.
“I think it’s easier if you leave before all of the knuckleheads,” he said.
There was 8 to 10 inches of snow at Merrill’s home. He said he wasn’t surprised more snow hadn’t fallen in Denver.
“I was hoping for more snow because if there was then we would have been closed,” Merrill said.
