An arctic storm continued to plague many parts of Colorado on Tuesday with blustery winds, bitterly cold temperatures and low visibility on roads.
High winds and blowing snow could create blizzard conditions, making it difficult to see beyond 100 feet in some areas along Colorado 93 between Boulder and Golden and Interstate 70 west of Denver, the National Weather Service’s Office in Boulder warned. A winter weather advisory remains in effect through 5 p.m. for the southern Front Range foothills.
As of Tuesday afternoon, a hazardous winter warning was in place for northeastern and north-central Colorado for wind gusts up to 65 mph in areas above 10,000 feet, NWS said. Snow is also expected to increase across the mountains Wednesday through Thursday, with periods of heavy snow possible north of I-70.
Visibility will be poor over the higher mountain passes through Thursday, forecasters said.
Several roads remained closed Tuesday, including Berthoud Pass, where 10 cars were buried Sunday by a snowslide. The Colorado Department of Transportation said there was no estimated time of reopening Berthoud Pass or others still closed Tuesday afternoon.
Crews are working through the night to clear the road and reduce avalanche danger over Berthoud Pass after two more snowslides came down Tuesday afternoon, CDOT said.
Across the plains, forecasters said to expect dry conditions with a short reprieve from the bitter cold until a front moves in Thursday, bringing another round of low temperatures and a chance of light snow.
Some of the coldest temperatures across the state during the massive storm were recorded in northern Colorado, the weather service reported, with temperatures reaching 36 degrees below zero in Weld County on Monday night.
The storm’s highest gusts were recorded in Summit and Grand County’s mountains, with the highest coming in near Copper Mountain, west of Breckenridge on Saturday at 118 mph, according to the National Weather Service.
Wind gusts also topped 100 mph near Winter Park, with a 101 mph gust recorded at 1 a.m. Saturday, the weather service said.
The storm also brought wind gusts of 76 mph in Tabernash, 68 mph on Loveland Pass and 65 mph at Brainard Lake. (To put into perspective, wind above 75 mph — or hurricane-force wind – is strong enough to peel a roof off a home, overturn a recreational vehicle, uproot large trees and break windows.)
Temperatures plunged to 19 degrees below zero in Denver at 12:34 a.m. Tuesday, tying the record cold temperature for Jan. 16 set in 1930, the service said.
Another record was tied when it reached a high of 2 degrees in Denver on Monday, matching a record set in the city in 1930 and 1888 for the coldest high temperatures, Zach Hiris, a meteorologist with NWS said.
An all-time record was set at Limon Airport (where records go back to 1948) early Tuesday morning when temperatures dipped to 30 degrees below zero.
Because of strong winds and sustained snow Monday, an avalanche warning was extended through Wednesday for the northern and central mountains. A special avalanche advisory is in effect for the rest of the state, the Colorado Avalanche Information Center said in a warning Monday night, discouraging any travel in avalanche terrain.
Since Friday, more than 300 avalanches were reported, including 50 triggered by backcountry travelers, the CAIC said. Brian Lazar, deputy director for CAIC, said Tuesday he expected the total number of avalanches to go up by “dozens” as more reports come in.
No fatal accidents were reported over the weekend. Four skiers and one snowboarder were caught in five separate avalanches, Lazar said.
The nonprofit sounded the alarm last week, warning of high avalanche risk, ahead of the storm when they feared a surge of skiers, snowboarders and backcountry enthusiasts would hit the mountains for the holiday weekend. After a few weeks of low danger and dry weather, new snow piling high above weak layers of snowpack would spike the risk of large slides, forecasters warned.
“It is very easy to trigger an avalanche right now, including from a distance,” the CAIC said on Facebook on Monday night.