Blizzard Dumps New Snow In Colorado Mountains
DENVER (AP) - An overnight blizzard left parts of the Colorado mountains covered in new snow Sunday, and more snow is on the way for the northern Colorado mountains.
Whiteout conditions prompted the Colorado Department of Transportation to close U.S. 6 over Loveland Pass around 12:30 a.m. Sunday, shortly after an accident on Interstate 70 near the Eisenhower Tunnel, and a 93 mph gust was recorded in San Juan County in southwest Colorado.
Accidents temporarily closed various mountain stretches of Interstate 70 early Sunday. One accident killed three people in an Audi that collided head-on with a semitrailer in a construction zone in Glenwood Canyon around 5:30 a.m., but it wasn't immediately clear if weather was a factor, the Colorado State Patrol said. Roads were wet at the time.
The National Weather Service said another wave of Pacific moisture could bring 15 to 25 inches of new snow to the northern Colorado mountains between Sunday night and Wednesday night. Less snow is predicted for the central Colorado mountains, National Weather Service meteorologist Jeff Colton said.
April is typically Colorado's second snowiest month after March, Colton said.
All of the Colorado ski resorts that were still open for the season reported at least 6 inches of new snow Sunday. Beaver Creek was reporting 15 new inches, and Copper Mountain reported 13.
Lindsay Hamilton, of New York, was in Colorado for Vail Mountain's last day of the ski season. "I was out yesterday," she said Sunday by phone while waiting in a lift line. "I only did three runs, and it was slushy, grassy and rocky. It's just completely different today. It's about a foot of fresh powder. The snow is just beautiful, really fun."
Real estate agent Matt Lanning woke up to find a foot of new snow on a table on the back deck of his home in Breckenridge. The bottom of his vehicle touched the top of the snow when he headed to work Sunday morning. "Sad, but true. I'm working on closing day," Lanning said, adding he plans to ski in the backcountry later this week.
- By Catherine Tsai, AP Writer
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