From The Colorado Springs Gazette (Liz Henderson):
A large storm pummeled Colorado on Friday, stranding travelers in the mountains, reducing travel along the Front Range to a crawl and heightening the danger from avalanches in the backcountry.
Treacherous travel did have a silver lining for the state’s water supply.
The snowpack in the upper Colorado headwaters area, comprised of Grand Junction, Glenwood Springs and Aspen, was at 114% Friday. Snowpack in southeastern Colorado, including Colorado Springs and Pueblo, was at 115%, according to data from the National Water and Climate Center…
Loveland pass saw more than 32 inches of snow by Friday evening, data from the National Weather Service showed. Rabbit Ears pass received more than 50 inches, Copper Mountain more than 33 inches and parts of Littleton 12 inches.
Palmer Lake saw about 10 inches of snow, Black Forest 9 inches and southern Colorado Springs about 9 inches, weather service data showed.
Early Friday, avalanches were triggered to reduce the danger of one starting on its own, closing westbound lanes of I-70 at exit 218. Hours later, westbound lanes of the interstate were closed from Golden to the Eisenhower Tunnel, CDOT said.
An avalanche closed I-70 at Frisco, but the interstate was reopened within an hour, state officials said.
From The Summit Daily:
Breckenridge Ski Resort
48-hour total: 39 inches
24-hour total: 20 inches
Overnight: 6 inches
Loveland Ski Area48-hour total: 39 inches
24-hour total: 24 inches
Overnight: 5 inches
Copper Mountain Resort48-hour total: 32 inches
24-hour total: 15 inches
Overnight: 4 inches
Arapahoe Basin Ski Area48-hour total: 29 inches
24-hour total: 15 inches
Keystone Resort48-hour total: 15 inches
24-hour total: 4 inches
Overnight: 2 inches
And, here’s a reminder of why the storm set up so well across Colorado and the central and northern Rockies.
Satellite imagery shows a relatively cloud-free #NorCal early this morning as high pressure centered over the eastern Pacific keeps most clouds well to the north and east of the region. #CAwx pic.twitter.com/2fq92GlEf4
— NWS Sacramento (@NWSSacramento) February 6, 2020