Highways closed, flights cancelled as spring storm pummels Colorado
Travel conditions across Southern Colorado have improved but some areas remain hazardous. The Office of Emergency Management is encouraging people to stay off the roads for their own safety.
It’s all part of the same system that brought severe thunderstorms and tornadoes to eastern Colorado on Friday.
Travel over Monument Hill is treacherous and hundreds of flights have been cancelled at DIA.
Travel impacts
The El Paso County Office of Emergency Management asked drivers to stay off the road Saturday afternoon, especially in the northeastern part of the county where reports of stranded motorists were beginning to come in.
Highway 24 was closed in both directions between Woodmen Road in Falcon and Limon. It reopened around 5:00 p.m.
Highway 94 was closed between Enoch Road and Punkin Center. It reopened at around 3:10 p.m.
Eastbound Woodmen Road was closed between Marksheffel Road and Falcon. It has also reopened.
The Red Cross has opened a shelter for stranded motorists at Patriot Learning Center, 11990 Swingline Road, in Falcon.
Highway 67 was closed between Cripple Creek and Divide. It reopened after 5:00.
Chain laws were in effect for I-25 over Monument Hill for much of the day Saturday, but have since been lifted.
A semi jackknifed on Monument Hill Saturday morning. It took about 30 minutes to get the truck chained up and back on the road.
Chain and traction laws are also in effect along several stretches of I-70 in the mountains.
Highway 24 is snow packed and icy in Woodland Park.
Most local law enforcement agencies are on accident alert.
Denver International Airport reports 845 flights have been cancelled. That’s about 70% of the airport’s daily schedule.
United Airlines cancelled all of its flights between Colorado Springs and Denver Saturday as well as all of its Saturday flights out of DIA on Friday in advance of the storm.
You should check with your airline before going to the airport if you plan to fly this weekend.
Power Outages
The combination of heavy snow and 50 mph wind gusts was putting a strain on the power grid in some areas Saturday.
San Isabel Electric reported 1,800 customers were without Power in Rye, Walsenburg, Colorado City, Beulah and Wetmore.
Intermountain Rural Electric Association reported power outages in parts of Woodland Park, Strasburg, Conifer Mountain, Angel Acres, Kiowa and Castlewood.
Seasons collide
Summer and winter battled it out over the state Friday with heavy snow in the mountains and tornadoes on the eastern plains.
At least one confirmed tornado touched down in Kiowa County Friday.
Tornado sirens wailed and hail stones came down as the storm passed through Eads, but there are no reports of the tornado having caused any damage.
KRDO NewsChannel 13 spoke to an Eads resident named Mandy. “We’ve had a few tornadoes kind of come down and go up,” Mandy told KRDO NewsChannel 13 as the town’s tornado siren sounded in the background.
Another Eads resident, John Courkamp, said he hadn’t heard of any damage. “I think the area that it was in was free of all buildings. There might be one old farm house out there,” Courkamp said.
Winter’s last stand
By Saturday morning, winter was winning the battle.
While snow is not in store for all of Colorado this weekend, heavy snow is expected across the mountains, foothills, Pikes Peak Region and Denver metro area.
Up to two feet of snow is expected across the foothill locations, including Teller County and the Palmer Divide.
Click here for your updated StormTracker 13 forecast
Snow totals will vary across the Colorado Springs area depending on elevation. While several inches of snow is likely to accumulate across the higher elevations on the north and west sides of the city, lesser amounts of snow will accumulate downtown and on the southeast side.
For those of you who have weekend plans in Denver, the Mile High City is expecting more than a foot of snow by Monday.
