“Conditions will gradually improve this morning, but it will take some time to dig out from this major winter storm,” the National Weather Service wrote in a statement early Friday.
Many schools and businesses Closed FridayIncluding University of Colorado at Boulder.
At the height of the storm, much of Interstate 70 was closed west of Denver. Routes like Route 6 through Loveland Pass was closed Friday morning. continuously Hundreds of flight cancellations Remaining delays are expected at Denver International Airport on Thursday and Friday.
Tens of thousands also lost power, with about 15,000 people still in the dark early Friday morning. According to Online tracker poweroutage.us.
Road conditions were expected to gradually become less dangerous as the snow ends and temperatures rise on Friday.
Despite several feet of snow at the base, the storm will go down in the books as one of Denver's most memorable, as official weather records are kept at Denver International Airport, 15 miles east of downtown. Snow levels fell sharply east of the city, with the airport reporting just 5.7 inches. Its western and southwestern suburbs received 8 to 12 inches downtown and 15 to 24 inches.
While final storm levels are still tricky, here are some high-level totals from the foothills west of Denver and along the Interstate 25 corridor:
- 25.5 inches in golden color
- 24.5 inches at Lone Tree (15 miles south of Denver).
- 22 inches in Ponderosa Park (30 miles southeast of Denver)
- 20.5 inches near Boulder
- 13 inches in Aurora
- 10.6 inches in Federal Heights (8 miles north of Denver)
Across the Front Range, west of Loveland around Estes Park and south toward Woodland Park (west of Colorado Springs), 2 to 4 feet of snow was reported, including 53 inches in Nederland, 12 miles west of Boulder. .
Other largest front-end totals include:
- 46 inches at Eldora
- 45.7 inches in Genesee
- 40 inches south of Manitou Springs
- 36 inches in Estes Park
- 36 inches in Woodland Park
- 32 inches in Evergreen
Before this storm, places east of the Rockies in the Colorado High Plains typically had below-average snowfall for the season – and that's still the case after this storm. But many mountain areas in the West have a healthy snowpack surplus, which this storm boosted.
Denver's long-term snowfall average is about 48 inches and after this storm, its total of 35.1 inches is still on track. However, it will average 10 inches or more by late spring, so additional storms could help close the gap.
Farther south, Colorado Springs' snowfall has averaged just over a foot for the day. Thursday's 10.2 inches was one of the biggest snowfalls in decades. The last time that much fell in one day was on April 24, 1997, when 11.1 inches fell.
Temperatures are expected to be lower next week, snow melts, and an active storm system could provide more opportunities for flakes. Over the past 30 winters, Denver hasn't gotten its last inch of snow until April 25, on average.
