Updated Nov. 26, 2019 7:32 PM
A major snowstorm has caused headaches for early Thanksgiving travelers in Colorado with feet of snow piling up in some parts of the state.
The storm began to unfold over Colorado late Monday and intensified overnight. Most of Denver and the city’s suburbs woke up to 6 to 12 inches of snow on Tuesday with several feet falling over the nearby mountains.
Pinewood Springs, Colorado, located near Rocky Mountain National Park, was one of the snowiest spots in the state with nearly 32 inches of snow falling as of 7 a.m. MST Tuesday.
Snow has also spread into Nebraska with a general 3 to 6 inches falling over the state’s midsection as of late Tuesday morning.
(Twitter/@fortcollins1987)
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These two images were taken just one day apart, showing a backyard in Fort Collins, Colorado, before and after the snowstorm.
Roads across the region were clogged with snow, making the Tuesday morning commute grind to a halt.
“Many roads north and east of Metro Denver have been closed due to the heavy snow and blowing snow,” the National Weather Service office in Boulder, Colorado, said on Twitter.
Not only did the snowstorm cause road closures, but it also forced flights to be grounded at Denver International Airport.
Flight delays and cancellations began to mount late Monday as conditions deteriorated, which led to more than 1,000 people spending the night at the airport, according to the Denver Post.
By Tuesday morning, over 440 flights had been canceled and another 120 delayed, according to FlightStats, with the airport measuring at least 7 inches of snow accumulation.
“Please check your flight status with your airline before coming to the airport,” Denver International Airport said on Twitter. “[G]ive yourself extra time to travel and take it slow !”
Travelers trying to traverse the Colorado Rockies on Tuesday morning encountered a significant road closure after a rockslide forced a section of Interstate 70 westbound to be shut down.
The Colorado Department of Transportation said that they expect this to be an ‘extended closure’ and are advising travelers to use US 285 to navigate around the closed section of the highway.
Additionally, a fatal accident was reported by the Colorado State Police on I-70 early Tuesday, shutting down the roadway in both directions from Dowd Junction to Post Boulevard in Eagle County. Hazmat crews were called to the scene to assist with the cleanup and investigation.
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Weather conditions are forecast to improve across the region by Wednesday, just in time for the worst day for travel ahead of Thanksgiving.
However, the break in the stormy weather will be brief as a powerful system that barred into the western United States on Tuesday makes its way into the region, delivering another round of snow to some parts of Colorado by week’s end.
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