Tag Archives: Colorado

US

Colorado blizzard is now Denver’s 4th largest storm on record — with more snow coming Sunday night – The Denver Post

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A historic blizzard that blasted Colorado on Sunday dumped 2 feet of snow in the Denver area, knocked out power to tens of thousands of people, stranded others in their vehicles, shut down major roadways and will leave many schools and government offices closed Monday.

The weekend snowstorm became the fourth-largest ever recorded in Denver with 24.1 inches of snow at the city’s official measurement point at Denver International Airport as of 6 p.m. Sunday — with snow still expected to fall for several more hours.

That total just beat the 23.8 inches of snow that fell on Denver in December 1982, and is the city’s biggest snowfall since 31.8 inches fell in March 2003.

“This has definitely been a historic storm,” said Alan Reppert, senior meteorologist with AccuWeather. “Definitely something that we can thankfully look at as a very rare occurrence.”

While snow began falling Saturday night, the storm reached blizzard conditions around noon Sunday, said meteorologist Jim Kalina with the National Weather Service in Boulder. That means as the snow fell, winds accelerated to at least 35 mph and reduced visibility beyond a quarter mile for longer than three hours.

Kalina expected those blizzard conditions to continue until about midnight Sunday. In that time he anticipated another 2 to 5 inches of snowfall in the metro area.

Totals around the rest of the metro area included 16 inches elsewhere in Denver, 24 inches in Arvada and 23.1 inches in Aurora and nearly 20 inches in Boulder, according to National Weather Service records. Colorado’s ski towns saw between 3 and 16 inches of snow, early weather reports showed.

Reppert noted that Nederland reported about 36 inches of snowfall and that some areas will likely “see close to 40 inches by the time it’s all said and done.”

The blizzard led Denver Public Schools and many other metro area districts — including Douglas County, Adams 12, Cherry Creek and Littleton — to declare snow days on Monday, while a smaller number, such as Jeffco Public Schools, announced students would take remote-learning classes for the day.

A full list of school closures can be found at denverpost.com.

Snowfall was forecast to continue into early Monday morning, stopping around 5 a.m., Kalina said. Temperatures likely will hit a high of 37 during the day Monday and drop to the low 20s during the night.

Airlines canceled hundreds of flights scheduled to leave DIA on Sunday as the storm intensified, though about 10 planes did manage to take off early in the morning. By midday, the airport shut down all six runways due to blowing snow and poor visibility, though the terminal and concourses remained open to passengers.

And late in the afternoon, DIA officials asked people not to attempt to drive to the airport, declaring Peña Boulevard impassable with multiple vehicle stranded along the roadway.

Early in the day, the wet, heavy snowfall forced officials to close multiple stretches of Interstate 70 and 25 near Denver, far out on the Eastern Plains and in northern Colorado leading up to the Wyoming border.

For every truck AAA Colorado had out on the road Sunday afternoon there were eight calls for emergency service, spokesman Skyler McKinley said in a tweet. In addition to that, at least four of the organization’s trucks had to be rescued as well.

“You know it’s not safe to drive even if the AAA trucks are getting stuck,” McKinley wrote.

Sheriff’s deputies in Weld County — hit hard by snow and wind — rescued at least six stranded drivers by early Sunday afternoon, including the driver of a tractor-trailer that tipped over.

Weld County Sheriff Joe Moylan said that while his deputies used a military surplus transport vehicle during the rescues, even that 25-ton, mine-resistant vehicle needed the help of a Colorado Department of Transportation plow to reach stranded drivers. Visibility fell as low as 7 feet, he said, forcing deputies to respond only to life-or-death calls at the time.

“The wind is as bad as the snow is, there’s almost no visibility out there,” Moylan said during the storm.

At the same time, hundreds of power outages across the metro area and northern Colorado left tens of thousands of Xcel Energy customers without electricity. As of 6:30 p.m., 24,437  customers were without power, largely around Greeley, according to Xcel’s website. Jefferson County — mostly Westminster and Arvada — and Larimer County saw thousands without power during the day as well.

Heavy snow, high winds, snapped utility poles and more caused the outages and more than 600 people worked to restore power, an Xcel spokeswoman told The Denver Post. In total more than 152,000 customers experienced an outage of some kind, though many included momentary disruptions lasting just a few seconds.

The outage lasted for hours for Caroline Maxwell and her three sons, however. She said the family lost power around 8 a.m. and kept themselves busy while her husband, who works in the oil and gas industry, was out clearing sites from the snow.

The family lives on the west side of Johnstown and Maxwell said she wasn’t sure when power would come back on. She gave thanks that nobody in her family had a medical condition that required electricity to stay healthy and she stocked up on meat and dairy before the snow started falling.

“I don’t think anybody can say they didn’t expect this or weren’t warned for the storm,” Maxwell said.

While many awaited the return of their electricity, others prepared to stay at home Monday as many school districts and government offices announced they would close due to the weather. The Colorado Legislature called Monday off, and all state government offices in Denver and throughout the metro area will be closed, too.

Northglenn, Longmont, Commerce City and Arapahoe County were among the municipalities announcing closures of their government offices on Monday.

 

 



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Sports

‘Whiteout, Brutal Conditions’ On I-70, Closures In Colorado Mountains, Foothills & Out East – CBS Denver

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(CBS4) – Authorities are having trouble keeping Interstate 70 open in Colorado’s foothills during the major snowstorm that’s slamming the state on Sunday. Late Sunday morning officials announced that things aren’t going well on the Eastern Plains, either.

As of 1:45 a.m. I-70 had weather-related closures in the following areas:

– Eastbound Silverthorne to Georgetown
– From Golden to Floyd Hill (at the border of Clear Creek County and Jefferson County)
– Airpark Road in Aurora all the way to Limon

(credit: CBS)

Officials with the Colorado State Patrol said in a tweet that conditions on Floyd Hill were: “whiteout brutal conditions.”

Some drivers from out of state have been trying to get to Colorado ski resorts in the midst of the snowstorm. A family from Orlando, Florida, told CBS4 they took a detour off I-70 and got stuck in the snow.

“We’re heading up to Breckenridge to do some skiing. The girls had to use the restroom. We couldn’t make it up the hill with the two-wheel drive truck, so we backed up and he put it in the ditch,” said one of the family members.

(credit: CBS)

“What advice would you give to other people if this was their first time driving in the snow?” asked CBS4’s Justin Adams.

“If you’re going to rent a vehicle, make sure it’s 4-wheel drive, not 2-wheel,” he replied with a laugh. “Other than that, hey, this is what it’s about.”

The family was able to borrow a tow rope and got themselves going again. But they likely won’t forget their March ski trip to Colorado anytime soon.

According to Meteorologist Ashton Altieri, a Blizzard Warning, Winter Storm Warnings and Winter Weather Advisories continue for many areas around the state with additional accumulation expected in all areas.

WEATHER ALERT: Blizzard Warning Issued, Biggest Snowstorm In 15 Years For Denver



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US

Unruly party near Colorado University in Boulder prompts police to vow arrests

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Police in Boulder, Colo., said Sunday that they were working to identify those who took part in a large street party on University Hill that resulted in three officers being assaulted by bricks and rocks, reports said.

KDVR, the local station, reported that the Saturday night party included a large crowd that set off fireworks and caused significant property damage, including to an armored police vehicle and fire truck. Police from the Boulder Police Department said they are reviewing footage in order to “charge and identify” those involved.

The school also issued a statement calling the incident “unacceptable and irresponsible,” especially when considering compliance with COVID-19 health orders.

“We appreciate the efforts of law enforcement to address the unacceptable conduct of these students and apologize to the residents of University Hill for their behavior,” the school’s statement said.

A police vehicle was damaged during a massive street party.
(Boulder Police Department)

Photographs from the scene showed cars with smashed windows and at least one car was flipped over.

The Washington Post reported that there were about 500 to 800 “maskless revelers.” The report said police arrived at about 8:30 p.m. and warned the crowd that they faced arrest if they did not leave. There was a clash with police when about 100 from the group charged them, the report said.

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Michael Dougherty, the Boulder County district attorney, told reporters at a news conference that calling what happened on Saturday a party is incorrect.

“I don’t regard people flipping over a car as a party. I don’t regard people throwing bottles and rocks at firefighters and police officers as a party. Those are criminal acts and will be treated as such.”

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Health

South African COVID-19 variant discovered in Colorado

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The more-contagious COVID-19 variant first identified in South Africa has been confirmed in Colorado for the first time, with three cases detected in a Chaffee County prison that’s experiencing its third coronavirus outbreak, state health officials announced Sunday night.

Two Buena Vista Correctional Complex staffers and one of the prison’s inmates have tested positive for the B.1.351 variant, the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment said.

Prior to its discovery in Colorado, 81 cases of the South African variant had been confirmed in 20 jurisdictions across the U.S., including California, Texas, Florida, Illinois, New York and Maine, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The South African variant first was detected in that country in October, and like the B.1.1.7 strain first identified in the United Kingdom, it’s believed to spread more easily and quickly than other versions of COVID-19, according to the CDC.

The first confirmed cases of the B.1.1.7 variant in the United States were detected in Colorado in late December.

Since then, state officials have confirmed 190 cases of what they call “variants of concern,” which include B.1.1.7 and other COVID-19 strains “that may spread easier, cause more severe disease, reduce the effectiveness of treatments or vaccine, or (are) harder to detect using current tests.”

That’s a small number compared to the total 436,602 coronavirus cases detected in the state over the last year, but public health officials worry that highly contagious strains could take off before enough of the population is inoculated against the virus — or that some variants could prove more resistant to the new vaccines.

The discovery of the South African strain in Colorado came after the three samples from the Buena Vista prison were chosen at random for genetic sequencing as part of the state’s ongoing surveillance analysis for variants.

Officials did not release any information about the three people’s health conditions.

The state health department now plans to sequence all positive COVID-19 specimens from the prison to look for variants, the agency said in a news release. Anyone exposed at the prison will be quarantined for 14 days, health officials said.

The Buena Vista prison first experienced a COVID-19 outbreak last July, with 197 inmates infected and 16 staffers testing positive, according to state health department records. A second outbreak followed in October, with 314 inmates testing positive and 60 staff members infected.

One inmate died in that second outbreak, according to state records.

The prison’s current outbreak — its third — was declared Feb. 24, and as of Wednesday included three inmate infections and 11 staff cases.

Due to outbreak conditions, Buena Vista inmates were tested for COVID-19 weekly from Oct. 19 to Feb. 3, shortly before the second outbreak was declared over, according to state health officials. Weekly testing resumed Feb. 22, around the time of the start of the current outbreak.

Department of Corrections staff members are tested weekly using the more accurate PCR tests and, since November, daily with BinaxNOW COVID-19 rapid antigen tests, according to state health officials.

Inmates are given PCR tests when they demonstrate symptoms, are exposed to someone who tested positive or when surveillance testing is being done during outbreaks.

On Monday, a team from the state health department will be at the Buena Vista prison to perform PCR testing and host a vaccine clinic for inmates and staff, officials said. A vaccine clinic is planned for later in the week for family members and close contacts of the staff as well.

To date, just 664 of the more than 30,000 inmates in the Colorado Department of Corrections have been vaccinated, since, despite their high-risk setting, they’ve only been eligible for inoculation due to advanced age, or more recently, health conditions. In its original draft vaccine plan, the state health department had given prisoners a higher priority, but they later were stripped out.

But Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment policy allows flexibility to deviate from the state’s vaccine prioritization “for emerging risk of rapid spread of COVID-19 (e.g., variant transmission),” the agency said in announcing the Buena Vista vaccination plans.

Colorado’s prisons have been hit particularly hard by COVID-19 over the last year, with 8,693 inmates testing positive statewide and 29 prisoner deaths, according to Colorado Department of Corrections data.

Many of the state’s biggest coronavirus outbreaks during the pandemic have taken place in correctional facilities, with jails, detention centers and prisons accounting for 11 of Colorado’s 15 largest current outbreaks.

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Science

The best time to see the Snow Moon in Colorado in 2021

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Late this evening, as Friday turns to Saturday, the Snow Moon will light up the night sky.

At 1:17 a.m. Saturday, February’s full moon will be at its fullest illumination. Likely to be clear, according to the National Weather Service, Colorado has a great shot at seeing the Snow Moon.

So what is it?

The Snow Moon is what The Old Farmer’s Almanac calls the February full moon, and its nomenclature is based in Native American, Colonial American and European culture, according to the almanac. 

February is an easy one to reason as heavy snowfall occurs this month. Denver had its snowiest storm in five years earlier this week. On average, February is the United States’ snowiest month; in Colorado, it’s March.

In other cultures, the Snow Moon is known as the Bald Eagle Moon, Bear Moon, Raccoon Moon, Groundhog Moon and Goose Moon.

The moon will rise at 6:27 p.m. and set at 7:11 a.m. Friday into Saturday.

Here are the rest of this year’s full moons with their names:

  • January 28 — Wolf Moon
  • March 28 — Worm Moon
  • April 26 — Pink Moon
  • May 26 — Flower Moon
  • June 24 — Strawberry Moon
  • July 23 — Buck Moon
  • August 22 — Sturgeon Moon
  • September 20 — Harvest Moon
  • October 20 — Hunter’s Moon
  • November 19 — Beaver Moon
  • December 18 — Cold Moon

Fun lunar fact: A little more than 50 years ago, on Feb. 6, 1971, Alan Shepard became the first person to hit a golf ball on the moon.

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Business

Videos show plane engine on fire as it drops debris on Colorado

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  • Though it landed safely, videos from the ground and sky show United flight 328’s engine in flames.
  • A passenger on the plane took a video of the engine on fire and rattling in the air.
  • Authorities said no one on the plane or on the ground was injured in the event.
  • Visit the Business section of Insider for more stories.

Several videos posted on social media on Saturday showed United Airlines flight 328 soaring through the sky with one engine on fire just before the plane landed safely at a Denver airport.

The plane, a Boeing 777-200, dropped debris throughout several Colorado neighborhoods, including a massive piece that narrowly missed someone’s home.

None of the flight’s 231 passengers and 10 crew members were injured, nor was anyone on the ground below, authorities said.

One video showed the engine rattling ominously and engulfed in flames.

 

Another video from a driver’s dashboard camera showed the moment the engine exploded in the sky, leaving behind a plume of black smoke.

 

Photos from after the landing showed charred remnants of the engine.

 

The plane had taken off from Denver International Airport in Colorado, en route to Honolulu, Hawaii. It safely returned to the airport shortly after takeoff.

In another video, passengers could be heard cheering and clapping after the plane touched down.

 

The Federal Aviation Administration said in a statement that the flight had experienced a right engine failure after takeoff. Both the FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board are investigating the incident.

Get the latest Boeing stock price here.



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US

Colorado avalanches: Two die in separate avalanches on Valentine’s Day

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A snowboarder was caught in an avalanche Sunday morning near the Loveland Pass Ski area, the CAIC website shows.

The snowboarder was traveling in a backcountry area about 50 miles west of Denver when the avalanche struck around 9:30 a.m. local time (11 a.m. ET).

The avalanche ran on an east facing slope east of Mount Trelease at an elevation over 12,000 feet, the preliminary report from CAIC said.

The Clear Creek Sheriff’s Office told CNN affiliate KCNC that the victim was a 57-year-old man from nearby St. Mary’s, Colorado.

Search and Rescue personnel found the victim buried in avalanche debris, according to CAIC.

About 50 miles north, a snowmobiler was caught and killed in a second avalanche west of Rollins Pass on Mount Epworth Sunday, CAIC reported.

The avalanche occurred on an east-facing, above tree line slope, burying the snowmobiler underneath his sled on Pumphouse Lake.

Colorado has seen six avalanche fatalities just this month for a total of ten this season, more than any other state according to the CAIC count.

In December, three backcountry skiers were killed in two separate avalanches a day a part.

Three men, all local officials from Eagle County, Colorado, were killed in an avalanche near Ophir on the first of the month, CNN previously reported.
Two skiers were caught in an avalanche near Vail a few days later, with one digging out and the other dying, according to CAIC.
Fatal avalanches have also been reported in six other states, including a Washington State Trooper who was killed while snowmobiling in Kittitas County, Washington last week and four backcountry skiers who were caught and killed in Utah earlier this month.

Nikki Champion, a forecaster at the Utah Avalanche center told CNN earlier this month that the deadly season could be the result of two reasons — people enjoying more time outdoors and a “really dangerous snowpack.”

This year’s avalanche season has likely been more active because of a “persistent weak layer” of snow, she said.

CNN’s Keith Allen contributed to this report.

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Sports

Dylan McCaffrey transferring to Northern Colorado to play for dad

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Dylan McCaffrey is headed to play for his dad.

The former Michigan quarterback announced on Twitter on Sunday that he is transferring to Northern Colorado, where his dad Ed McCaffrey is the head coach.

Dylan opted out of last season before it began due to the COVID-19 pandemic. He played briefly in 2018, though suffered a broken collarbone that season. He played behind quarterback Shea Patterson last year.

Dylan, a former Rivals.com four-star recruit, finished his career with the Wolverines with 242 passing yards and three touchdowns in 10 games.

Dylan transferring to play for dad, Ed

Dylan, who has two seasons of eligibility left and can play immediately because he is a graduate transfer, will join his dad’s staff for his first season with the Bears.

Ed was hired in Northern Colorado in December 2019, replacing Earnest Collins Jr. — who compiled just a 28-72 record in nine seasons at the helm.

Ed, who spent 13 seasons in the NFL, most of which with the Denver Broncos, didn’t get to have his first season normally last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Big Sky conference opted to move its fall season to the spring due to the coronavirus, and then Northern Colorado decided not to participate. The Bears will instead attempt to have a modified non-conference schedule this spring.

Dylan’s older brother, Christian, just finished his fourth season with the Carolina Panthers. His younger brother, Luke, just announced he is transferring out of Nebraska.

Christian McCaffrey’s brother, Dylan, is headed to Northern Colorado to play for their dad.(G Fiume/Maryland Terrapins/Getty Images)

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Sports

Ex-Michigan Wolverines QB Dylan McCaffrey transferring to Northern Colorado

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Former Michigan quarterback Dylan McCaffrey is transferring to Northern Colorado, where he will have the chance to play for his father, Ed McCaffrey.

Dylan had been an ESPN 300 recruit in the 2017 class but was never able to win the starting job at Michigan. He only attempted 15 passes in 2018 and suffered a broken collarbone that shortened his season. He was a backup to Shea Patterson in 2019.

McCaffrey couldn’t get his career started at Michigan and opted out of the 2020 season before it commenced.

The elder McCaffrey became the head coach for the Bears in December 2019, but he has yet to coach a game for Northern Colorado because the Big Sky moved its season to the spring due to COVID-19.

Northern Colorado recently announced it will not participate in the Big Sky’s spring season and championship season but will instead pursue a modified nonconference schedule in late spring.

Ed will add his son to the roster with two years of eligibility remaining; and because Dylan is a graduate transfer, he is eligible to play immediately.

McCaffrey is brothers with former Nebraska quarterback Luke McCaffrey and Carolina Panthers star Christian McCaffrey.

Michigan still has quarterbacks Cade McNamara and Joe Milton on the roster, and the staff also added ESPN 300 quarterback J.J. McCarthy in this 2021 class. McCarthy enrolled early at Michigan and was the No. 25-ranked recruit overall, as well as the No. 2 dual-threat quarterback in the class.

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