Massive snowstorm in CO, local CPFers check in

If you didn't know most of Colorado is basically shut down because of snow. I live in a part that usually sees about a foot in the entire year, I woke up today to about 2.5 inchs and there's supposed to be around another 8 coming. Im about 30 miles east of fort collins.

Wow, and im going to Colorado from the 26-2. I hope everyone is alright and that the roads are safe.

You should be ok, everything is usally pretty well plowed a day or two after it stops snowing.

Don't go climbing!!

My parents were going to go to Ft. Collins, but decided against it because of the blizzard. We have a lot of family from there, very nice town just expensive to live there.

i live 30 mins from the colorado border and it sucks down here! trees are falling down from all the ice . check the general light forum for my story.

Just got cable TV and internet access back. I'm a few miles north of Denver and we have been getting about 1.5" to 2" per hour all day. Of all the days for my oldest daughter to forget her cell phone..... yep, today. She called a couple hours ago to say the company is sending everyone home. She tried her husband first but the circuits were busy. She's in her Jetta but the snow is deep and we're getting worried. The snow is still going horizontal. Thanks for listening.

Ken

Yep, we've a blizzard in Broomfield (between Boulder and Denver). I'm putting on some huge boots and walking to the grocery store; it will take less time than removing the 8" of snow from my car.

Good thing I got my son a sled for Christmas!

Hey, why are there no get togethers in CO? My light collection sucks, but some of you guys have more toys.

Kevin

kevinm said:

Yep, we've a blizzard in Broomfield (between Boulder and Denver). I'm putting on some huge boots and walking to the grocery store; it will take less time than removing the 8" of snow from my car.

Good thing I got my son a sled for Christmas!

Hey, why are there no get togethers in CO? My light collection sucks, but some of you guys have more toys.

Kevin

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same reason there aint none in Kansas.

your son will love the sled. heck you should give it to him know dont wait till christmas, althrough i guess if you gave it to him tonight you could put some lithium batts in your light and duck tape you light to the sled, that would be pretty cool.

Hello from Arvada.
I hope everyone is well.
Yesterday's blizzard created a slow and mundane drive home for us, until it was suddenly interrupted by seconds of sheer terror. (Sheer terror? Well, that is a slight exaggeration.) While stopped behind other cars at a traffic light, my wife and I simultaneous noticed via our rear view mirrors, an out of control car emerge from the horizontally blowing veil of snow behind us. A careless driver exceeding a rational speed as he performed his rather creative rendition of "Slip sliding away..." while on the Wadsworth By-pass "tires on ice-capades". We lacked sufficient time to do anything except brace ourselves for the impending impact. Fortunately, it was only minor. I suppose that is a chance one takes while driving in a blizzard, or at anytime, for that matter. Just can't control the other cars around you.
On a happier note, WOW! 19 to 26 inches and 4 foot drifts around our property and still snowing. A welcomed early start on vacation! We're wax'in the skis 'n head'in out asap! And yes, we are taking lights.
Good luck, and enjoy nature's gift.
Alec

Looked bad yesterday - extreme winds and white out conditions early in the day but by around 2 PM it mostly gave up, went calm and quit snowing. Nothing overnight here so just about an inch or two on the ground in the Pueblo area. Be careful up North - carry winter survival kits in the car.

benchmade_boy said:

same reason there aint none in Kansas.

your son will love the sled. heck you should give it to him know dont wait till christmas, althrough i guess if you gave it to him tonight you could put some lithium batts in your light and duck tape you light to the sled, that would be pretty cool.

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Yeah, especially if you put a red filter on that light. But then, other kids might get the wrong impression seeing a red light through the snowstorm !!!

Shortly after posting the message above power just went off in the area. I jumped on the phone to call the electric company and before I could finish giving them my name the phone line went dead. Grabbed the cell phone and called but it wasn't working right the first few tries - it was telling me to dial 10 digit number and pound sign - for just a local call - ?? So then seeing the cell phone battery was only half charged I grabbed a car battery and car battery solar cell trickle charger and set that up in the window so I could charge the cell phone and keep the car battery up too. That was working fine and I was down in the basement scrounging for some things to setup a generator in case the outage lasted long when I heard the heater come on. That was one of the shortest power outages I've seen around here - maybe only 45 minutes. Ahhh the fun of winter....

Wow. My heart goes out to those poor folks trapped in the airport. I spent 18 hours in the prision know as Chicago O'Hare Airport once. If given the option I think I'd have opted to hike across Death Valley. Unlike 9/11 and such it doesn't even seem like leaving for a hotel in dender would be an option.

Uh, Ken222, you gave us a scary report on your daughter and then no followup!

Is everything ok?

bitslammer said:

Wow. My heart goes out to those poor folks trapped in the airport. I spent 18 hours in the prision know as Chicago O'Hare Airport once. If given the option I think I'd have opted to hike across Death Valley. Unlike 9/11 and such it doesn't even seem like leaving for a hotel in dender would be an option.

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I work as a TV photographer, and yesterday one of our reporters and I were out during the worst from 3am - 2pm with wall to wall coverage for 7 hours of live shots every 15-20 minutes. We had 40-45mph wind gusts, and the blowing snow hitting my face felt like I was being sandblasted. That was near Castle Pines, South of Denver, and there was a very kind gentleman that worked at a little Cafe/Coffee Shop that brought us Hot Chocolate around 8:00am. It was wonderful, all the more so since it was a surprise. We did live shots for the Weather Channel as well as our station. It took almost two hours to return to the station, while the trip to our location earlier before the snow started took around 25 minutes. We had another crew that was sent to DIA mid-morning, and what is normally a 35 minute drive took them well over two hours, and they got trapped there when they closed Peña Boulevard. They didn't return to the station until after noon today. They slept on the floor because all of the chairs and couches were already gone. DIA is going to remain closed to Flight Operations until Friday at Noon, depending on snow removal going as expected.

Today, another reporter and I were in Westminster, alongside a bus Park-N-Ride location, and there was very little traffic on the streets, even when I returned to the station after noon. The heaviest snowfall has stopped, and the wind was much lighter today, and it was much warmer. The Blizzard Warnings ran out at Noon today. At my house, we had at least 30 inches of snow on the flats, and drifts as deep as 8 feet so it's been a lot of work to get around but it was the size of storm we get every 3 to 5 years. There is another small storm forecasted for Saturday for maybe 3-6 inches, and we won't get much Solar Snow Removal until Christmas and the day after. We will definitely have a White Christmas.

Here's where I work.

http://www.thedenverchannel.com/index.html

bwaites said:

Uh, Ken222, you gave us a scary report on your daughter and then no followup!

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Sorry. It took Kriss 5 hours to travel her usual 40 minute drive. One car gets stuck and everyone behind them is parked. All is well and Merry Christmas to you.

Ken

Wonderful to hear, I know all about the "stuck in car while others act like idiots problem"!

Thanks and Merry Christmas!!!

Good to hear everyones safe. This morning I spent about 2 hours digging out my car from about 28 inchs of snow. Theres also a 5 foot drift in front of my front door. Looks like mother nature decided it would be a white christmas after all.

Happy holidays.

I heard Denver airport is shut down too. Hopefully nobody misses Christmas!