Colorado’s first big snowstorm of the season crippled large swaths of the Front Range and eastern plains Friday by dumping nearly 3 feet of snow in some areas, closing government offices, schools and major interstate highways.
Governor Jared Polis declared a disaster emergency for the storm, authorizing the Colorado National Guard to step in and assist people affected by the storm and the activation of the state’s emergency operations center.
Southern Colorado, Eastern Plains and mountains saw the heaviest snowfall on Fridaywith at least 35 inches at Cuchara; 28 inches at Rye and Genoa; and 22 inches at Pinecliffe.
Weather officials reported 9 inches of snow in Denver, 13 inches in Aurora and 15 inches in Highlands Ranch and Lakewood as of Friday morning.
Prolonged freezing temperatures contributed to a devastating fire in a Lakewood apartment Friday morning that was sparked around 5 a.m. by a heater installed to keep pipes from freezing.
The fire destroyed an apartment building near Ammons Street and West 12th Avenue, killing two cats and displacing four people, according to West Metro Fire Rescue.
Aside from the Lakewood fire, the storm’s impact was primarily limited to. significant travel disruptions caused by road closures throughout Colorado. Law enforcement reported no significant accidents and Xcel Energy reported no widespread outages late Friday.
That was the goal when Colorado Department of Transportation officials banned commercial motor vehicles and all trailers from most roads and highways Friday night and Saturday morning, agency officials said in a news release.
Tractor-trailers and other large vehicles were banned on sections of Interstate 70, Interstate 25, U.S. 285, U.S. 40 over Berthoud Pass, and U.S. 6 through Clear Creek Canyon and over Loveland Pass until 8 a.m. Saturday.
“This restriction is designed to reduce the potential for semi-trailer and other high-impact vehicle run-offs that require extensive manpower and specialized equipment to clear, and often result in prolonged closures of the interstate,” CDOT officials explained in a statement.
Most highways south and east of Denver remained closed late Friday, including I-70 east of Aurora to Kansas and southbound I-25 between Pueblo and New Mexico.
The storm’s impacts were not limited to the ground, as travelers passing through Denver International Airport had to deal with more than 1,300 canceled or delayed flights on Friday.including 269 canceled SkyWest flights, 127 canceled Southwest flights and 64 canceled Frontier flights.
The snow is expected to taper off by midday Saturday, although Coloradans may see continued travel impacts through the weekend, state officials said.
