Snowstorm Hits Eastern Plains Harder
LIMON, Colo. (CBS4) - The snowstorm that left a few inches of snow in Denver on Thursday morning hit the Eastern Plains of Colorado a bit harder, making things difficult for snow removal crews and travelers.
In the town of Holyoke in Northeastern Colorado the National Weather Service reported that 8 inches of snow had fallen at 9 a.m. CBS4's Lauren Whitney reported that some areas of the Eastern Plains will continue to see snow fall through the early evening along with high winds, possibly putting totals from 9 to 17 inches by the time the snow ends.
No official snow total has been released for Limon, but a CBS4 crew there witnessed a snowplow driver who cleared an entire Interstate 70 truck stop parking lot and gas filling area and then had to start over again two hours later because the snow had accumulated again and made another round of clearing necessary.
Officials with CDOT sent out a bulletin Thursday morning saying they had 225 snowplows working to improve road conditions outside of the Denver metro area in areas including the Eastern Plains. They wrote: "Motorists should especially be prepared for icy spots on bridges, overpasses and ramps and should give plows plenty of room to do their job."
Frank Koerperich, a trucker, said the roads were worse the further east you got.
"It wasn't bad until I got down around Denver and went around the bypass and it's pretty packed up around here," Koerperich said in Limon. "And I'm heading into the storm so that's why I stopped here to get fuel because I don't want to get stuck there looking for fuel."
A 100 mile stretch of I-70 in the middle of Kansas was closed Thursday morning because of the storm.
