Colorado’s first major winter storm of the season drops nearly 3 feet of snow, closes most major highways

Colorado’s first major snowstorm of the season brought large swaths of the Front Range and Eastern Plains to a standstill Friday as it dumped nearly 3 feet of snow in some areas, closing government offices, schools and major interstates.

Gov. Jared Polis declared a disaster emergency for the storm, authorizing the Colorado National Guard to step in and help people impacted by the storm and activating the state emergency operations center.

Southern Colorado, the Eastern Plains and mountains saw the most snowfall Friday, with at least 35 inches in Cuchara; 28 inches in Rye and Genoa; and 22 inches in Pinecliffe.

Weather officials reported 9 inches of snow in Denver, 13 inches in Aurora and 15 inches in Highlands Ranch and Lakewood as of Friday morning.

The extended stretch of freezing temperatures contributed to a devastating Lakewood apartment fire on Friday morning, which sparked around 5 a.m. by a space heater set up to keep pipes from freezing.

The fire destroyed an apartment building near Ammons Street and West 12th Avenue, killing two cats and displacing four people, according to West Metro Fire Rescue.

Other than the Lakewood fire, the storm’s impact was mostly limited to major travel disruptions caused by road closures across Colorado. Law enforcement agencies did not report any significant crashes and Xcel Energy did not report any widespread power outages as of late Friday.

That was the goal when Colorado Department of Transportation officials banned commercial motor vehicles and all trailers from most highways and interstates Friday night and Saturday morning, agency officials said in a news release.

Tractor-trailers and other large vehicles were prohibited on sections of Interstate 70, Interstate 25, U.S. 285, U.S. 40 over Berthoud Pass, and U.S. 6 through Clear Creek Canyon and over Loveland Pass until 8 a.m. Saturday.

“This restriction is designed to reduce the chances of semi truck and other impactful spinouts that require extensive manpower and specialized equipment to clear, and often cause prolonged closures of the interstate,” CDOT officials said in a statement.

Most highways south and east of Denver were still closed late Friday, including I-70 east of Aurora to Kansas and southbound I-25 between Pueblo and New Mexico.

The storm’s impacts were not limited to the ground as travelers passing through Denver International Airport faced more than 1,300 canceled or delayed flights on Friday, including 269 canceled SkyWest flights, 127 canceled Southwest flights and 64 canceled Frontier flights.

Snow is expected to taper off by noon Saturday, though Coloradans may see continued travel impacts through the weekend, state officials said.