Roads, vaccine delivery shut down in huge storm
DENVER — Denver’s airport reopened Monday after a powerful late winter snowstorm dumped over 3 feet of heavy, wet snow on parts of Colorado and Wyoming, shutting down roads, closing state legislatures in both states and interfering with coronavirus vaccinations.
Federal officials shut down vaccine shipments to the region as the storm neared so the vials packed in dry ice wouldn’t spoil during mail delays, Wyoming Department of Health spokeswoman Kim Deti said.
The 27 inches that had fallen by the end of Sunday at Denver International Airport east of downtown made it the fourth biggest snowfall in the city’s history, according to the National Weather Service in Boulder.
The storm system, fueled by moisture from the Gulf of Mexico, had moved out of the region and into northeastern Nebraska by Monday, said Evan Direnzo, a meteorologist for the weather service in Boulder.
There was still plenty of digging out to do. Denver’s airport runways were closed just before noon on Sunday due to blowing snow and poor visibility and some stranded passengers spent the night at the airport. With the sun shining Monday, over 200 plows worked to clear the snow and ice and reopen four of the airport’s six runways, enough to meet demand following a number of flight cancellations, airport spokesperson Emily Williams said.
Some trucks and other travelers were stranded in eastern Wyoming where several major roads remained closed Monday, including routes in and out of the cities of Cheyenne and Casper. Large portions of Interstate 70 had been closed across eastern Colorado but reopened in the afternoon. The Colorado State Patrol told drivers of cars that had to be abandoned along roadways and then towed to look for their vehicles in the nearest large parking lot near the exit where it was left.
The U.S. Postal Service said mail delivery in many locations would be severely curtailed or suspended.
Classes were canceled Monday at schools around the Denver area and in Cheyenne and Casper, and at Colorado State University in Fort Collins and the University of Colorado’s main campus in Boulder.
The Colorado Avalanche Information Center warned of “dangerous” avalanche conditions in many areas, including the mountains along the Front Range.