People cross the street as a sign warns of heavy snowfall on Sunday in Denver, Colorado. A winter storm blocked roads, disrupted flights, and turned off the weekend in Arizona, Wyoming, Nebraska, and Colorado. Michael Ciaglo / Getty Images Hide caption
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Michael Ciaglo / Getty Images
People cross the street as a sign warns of heavy snowfall on Sunday in Denver, Colorado. A winter storm blocked roads, disrupted flights, and turned off the weekend in Arizona, Wyoming, Nebraska, and Colorado.
Michael Ciaglo / Getty Images
A winter storm that growled traffic, turned off the power and disrupted flights in parts of Arizona, Wyoming, Colorado and Nebraska during the weekend is expected to spread to the Midwest on Monday.
The storm rolled into parts of the Rocky Mountains late Saturday to Sundayand dropped several feet of snow and heavy rain. Gusty winds created whiteout conditions and residents were warned stay off the road.
Some drivers on Interstate 40 from Arizona on Saturday night did not get home in time to heed and enforce the warning some to spend Saturday evening on the road, after icy conditions caused several accidents and the highway was closed.
The storm’s ongoing effects are expected to result in harsh conditions early Monday as residents dig from below Record values from snowfall.
Multiple school districts in Colorado ordered Classes are canceled on Monday.
“Even if the storm subsides, traveling around the state on Monday morning will be challenging,” said Colorado State Patrol Chief Matthew Packard said.
In Wyoming, Governor Mark Gordon said high winds and more snowfall are expected in the state and government operations would be limited. He tweeted residents to “stay safe and avoid unnecessary travel.”
All Wyoming state facilities and offices in Laramie County will be closed on Monday, and Wyoming legislation will not convene. We will see strong winds and snowfall into the night tonight. Stay safe and avoid unnecessary travel.
– Governor Mark Gordon (@GovernorGordon) March 14, 2021
Extra snow is predicted to fall in parts of South Dakota, southern Minnesota, and northern Iowa. The National Weather Service in Phoenix warned Strong winds of up to 40-50 miles per hour are expected by Monday afternoon.
Road closures
Whiteout terms closed Dozens of roads in Colorado during most of Sunday – including several sections of Interstate 70, according to the state Department of Transportation. Sections of Interstate 25 and 76 have also been closed.
According to Colorado’s DOT, small avalanches were reported on Sunday affecting Colorado Highway 14 in the north-central region.
Major freeway routes in Nebraska were also closed on Sunday due to blizzard conditions that left snow on the roads. Some sections of I-80 and I-25 were also closed in Wyoming.
Snow clearing operations in Wyoming’s Casper area on Sunday afternoon have been temporarily suspended due to the lack of visibility of the region’s transportation department said.
“We had driven several plows off the road because visibility was limited to zero,” said the agency on its Facebook page.
Power outages, canceled flights
More than 54,000 households and businesses were without electricity Sunday afternoon in Colorado. By Sunday evening at 11 p.m., 26,000 were still without electricity.
Winter weather also forced all six runways at Denver International Airport to close by Sunday. The main road to the airport was also closed due to disabled vehicles.
⚠️ Snow storm conditions continue to prevail at the airport. The airlines stopped operations in DEN for the rest of the day. Peña Blvd is currently impassable with several disabled vehicles along the streets. If you absolutely have to get to the airport, please use the @RideRTD A-line instead pic.twitter.com/uEnXERcDDd
– Denver International Airport (@DENAirport) March 14, 2021
The late-season winter storm fell 24.1 inches at the airport, which is enough to make the storm the fourth largest in city history, according to Colorado Public Radio.
