Storm pelts Rockies, closes roads in Colo., Wyo., Neb.
A powerful late winter snowstorm intensified over the central Rocky Mountains on Sunday with heavy snow and wind leading to airport and road closures, power outages and avalanche warnings in parts of Colorado, Wyoming and Nebraska.
The National Weather Service in Wyoming called it a “historic and crippling” winter storm that would cause extremely dangerous to impossible travel conditions through at least early Monday.
Major roads southeast of a line that crosses diagonally from the southwest corner of Wyoming to its northeast corner were closed Sunday, including roads in and out of Cheyenne and Casper.
The Wyoming Department of Transportation suspended plowing operations in the Casper area Sunday due to heavy snow and a lack of visibility, the agency said.
“We had several plows drive off the roadway due to limited to zero visibility,” the agency said on its Facebook page.
Interstate 80 was closed across southern Wyoming and into the Nebraska panhandle, where 19 inches of snow were reported south of Gering, Nebraska. Interstate 25 was closed north from Fort Collins, Colorado, to its end at Buffalo, Wyoming.
Denver Public Schools are taking a snow day Monday, as will schools in Cheyenne and Casper in Wyoming. Some government offices in those areas also will be closed Monday.
At Denver International Airport, the runways were closed just before noon Sunday due to blowing snow and poor visibilities. “Many flights have already been canceled so the runway closures have minimal impacts,” airport officials said in social media posts. Nearly 2 feet of snow had fallen at the airport Sunday, the weather service said.
The Northern Colorado Regional Airport that serves the Fort Collins and Loveland areas was closed Sunday after receiving a foot of snow, according to the airport’s social media accounts.
An avalanche warning was in effect Sunday for the Rocky Mountains west of Fort Collins, Boulder, Denver and Colorado Springs where “intense snowfall will cause large and destructive avalanches,” Colorado Avalanche Center said. The center warned that avalanches could happen in unusual locations and recommended against traveling in the backcountry.
An avalanche blocked Colorado Highway 14 in north-central Colorado on Sunday, the Department of Transportation said.
Nearly 32,000 Xcel Energy customers were without power Sunday in north-central Colorado, while smaller outages were reported in the same area by the Poudre Valley Rural Electric Association
Rocky Mountain Power in Wyoming has reported several outages. The power company expects more service interruptions as the storm continues.
“Heavy snow and drifting conditions from wind is expected to make travel and repair work increasingly difficult today,” Curt Mansfield, vice president of operations for Rocky Mountain Power said in a statement Sunday.
Your résumé and cover letter gleam from the final revision you made last night. Your LinkedIn profile is up to date and the Excel spreadsheet of potential companies, keyword search terms, recruiters, and people to contact in your network is complete. Let the job search begin but first you need to G.R.O.W.
G: Get clear
If you are not clear on the experiences and capabilities you possess, it is difficult to imagine how you can use them to guide your job search to advance in your profession. Open your freshly updated résumé and for your most recent role answer the following questions: 1. What was your specific job? 2. What were you responsible for? 3. What did you do?
R: Recognize Your Results
To leverage your existing skills to build your vocation, it is imperative that you know and can articulate the advantage and impact of each of these in your hiring interviews. Go back to your résumé and answer the following questions for your current position: 1. What were my quantitative outcomes? So what? Quantitative results can be counted, measured, and expressed with numbers. 2. What were my qualitative results? Qualitative results are descriptive and conceptual. 3. What was my overall impact in the role? 4. When you left this role, what was different in each of the above categories or the categories you added?
O: Own your impact
Your customers, your team, the company, the community, or an individual was changed because of you and your work. To be fulfilled and engaged in your new job, it is important to identify the positive feelings associated with the results you identified in the prior step.
W: Where and what else?
Brainstorm how your actions and results demonstrate that you can apply for and get a position beyond the linear journey your résumé may indicate. Think about the following: What do you want to do more of in a new position? How do your results demonstrate that you can expand the scope of your responsibilities and take on an expanded role? What else can these actions be used for?
Q: Could the timing of when I file my 2020 tax return have an impact on the size of my next stimulus check?
A: It’s possible filing early could mean a bigger third stimulus check. But before you rush out to find a CPA or buy tax prep software, there’s another side to this story. For other people, filing early could result in a lower stimulus check.
The next stimulus payment is expected to be $1,400 to each eligible American ($2,800 for married couples filing a joint tax return), plus an additional $1,400 for each dependent in the family, regardless of the dependent’s age.
When the IRS is ready to calculate the amount of your third stimulus check, they will need to know your tax filing status, how many dependents you have, and your adjusted gross income (AGI).
If you file early this year, the IRS will be able to get that information from your 2020 tax return. If you file later, that information will mostly likely be pulled from your 2019 return.
Depending on your situation, that could give you an opportunity to alter the amount of your next stimulus check by timing the filing of this year’s tax return.
Under that plan, if your 2020 tax return isn’t filed and processed by the time the IRS starts processing your payment, the tax agency will use your 2019 tax return.
If your 2020 return is already filed and processed, then your stimulus check will be based on your 2020 return.
If your 2020 return is filed and/or processed after the IRS sends you a stimulus check, but before July 15, 2021 (or Sept. 1 if the April 15 filing deadline is pushed back), the IRS will send you a second payment for the difference between what your payment should have been if based on your 2020 return and any payment actually sent based on your 2019 return.
Although this is subject to change, that’s the plan at this point.
If you expect your third stimulus check to be higher if it’s based on your 2020 tax return (instead of your 2019 return), then you want to file your 2020 return as soon as possible. That way, there’s time for it to be processed before the IRS starts sending out stimulus payments. Some of the things that could make your stimulus check higher if it’s based on your 2020 return include: Your income was lower in 2020.
You had a child in 2020.
You got married in 2020 (especially if there’s a wide gap between each spouse’s income).
You could be claimed as a dependent on someone’s 2019 tax return, but not on anyone’s 2020 return.