Mid-March storm dumps up to 5 feet of snow on Colorado (UPDATE)

Jesse Ferrell
AccuWeather
Thu, 14 Mar 2024 14:21 UTC

© Debbie Kelley

Snow piles up in Woodland Park.

Portions of Interstate 70 were reopened late Thursday after being closed since the morning due to safety concerns during the snow.

"If you have to ask 'How do I get there?', the answer is, you can't," the Colorado State Patrol had warned during the closing on X.

Where the roads weren't closed, accidents abounded. Thursday morning, Denver Police and C-DOT Crews worked together to free a wrecked vehicle from the snow after it crashed into the concrete barrier on I-25 at Centennial.

Nederland, Colorado, reported 53 inches of snow -- over four feet -- from the storm. Most of the Denver Metro area had received 6 to 12 inches of snow by noon, while the airport recorded 5.7 inches, falling short of the biggest snowstorm this season, as 7.5 inches of snow fell on Oct. 28-29, 2023.

Over 800 flights were canceled on Thursday at Denver International Airport. Over 120,000 customers were without power early Thursday afternoon, according to PowerOutage.US, but that number had fallen to 15,000 by Thursday night. Heavy, wet snow took down a power pole and lines in southwest Denver on Thursday morning. Crews worked in the heavy falling snow to get the lines cleaned up and power restored to the area.

This was a classic March snowstorm for Colorado. Four of Denver's top 20 snowstorms have occurred between March 13 and 22 -- and 10 happened in March or April.

Local resident Debb Conn told AccuWeather's Tony Laubach Wednesday evening, "It's not March in Colorado unless we get a big blast of a snowstorm. I love it, I'm here for it, it signifies the end of winter, the beginning of spring, and it's what Colorado is all about."

Comment: Update March 15

Denver7.com reports:

Thursday's snowstorm around Colorado was best measured in feet, not inches, with totals reaching beyond four feet in some locations.

Clouds are clearing out and you may even see some sunshine poking through today. Conditions will warm up and dry out through Tuesday, when a weak storm system might bring some light snow to the mountains, according to the National Weather Service.

Temperatures on Friday are well above freezing and snow is already starting to melt around the Denver metro area — something that will continue as highs will stay in the 40s, 50s and 60s for the foreseeable future.

The NWS is continuing to update its snow totals map. As of now, the list tops out at 61.5 inches in Aspen Springs, a community just north of Black Hawk.

We have collected a list of snow total data from the NWS of more than 300 locations.

These are the totals for the past 48 hours as of 3 p.m. Friday, according to the latest data from the NWS:

Aspen Springs (community near Black Hawk): 61.5 inches
1 W Aspen Springs: 57
4 ENE Nederland: 53
4 SE Pinecliffe: 50.7
1 WSW Eldora: 46
1 NNW Genesee: 45.7
3 W Jamestown: 45.5
1 SW Manitou Springs: 44
4 NE Nederland: 43.5
1 NE Divide: 42
1 SSW Crescent Village: 42
4 SSE Pinecliffe: 41.2
1 NNE Echo Lake: 41
1 SSE St. Mary's Glacier: 40.5
1 N Genesee: 40
2 W Pennock Pass: 40
2 SSE Manitou Springs: 40
1 S Manitou Springs: 40
4 W Conifer: 39.5
4 E Aspen Springs: 36
Aspen Park: 36
2 S Estes Park: 36
1 SSW Rollinsville: 36
6 ESE Hillside: 36

(More here)