Major Snowstorm - Front Range - Dec 20/21 - PHOTO INTENSIVE (Denver: transplants, homes)

[BlueWillowPlate]

I just talked to my brother (who allowed himself to sleep in) and he says they have about two feet, he is in the Park Hill neighborhood of Denver.
I did not realize that Denver Public Schools were still in session, so my niece and nephew got some extra winter vacation out of this storm.
I am just glad that my older son had a morning flight, DIA closed not long after he got in yesterday.

[vpcats]

Jeeeeez. I feel so badly for everybody out there in snow land.
Maybe we can send you some pictures of the Florida Sunshine in the meantime?????
Be careful out there!

[gpraceman]

Cool! A full fledged blizard. Reminds me of the Christmas Eve blizard back in '82.

We got out last night, after using the snow blower to clear the drive. Went to the inlaws, at the other side of HR, for dinner with in town and out of town relatives. The main streets were not bad at all then. Though, the neighborhoods were lousy. Saw lots of 2WD cars stuck, some in the middle of the street. Our new 4WD had no problems getting us there and back. Some of our in town relatives stayed at the inlaws instead of trying to get home.

Overnight we got a lot more snow. I tried to see if I could get the 4WD out, but couldn't get past the end of the driveway. I guess we'll be staying in for awhile.

I did give the slow blower some good excercise again today and helped several neighbors themselves dig out. In the Highlands Ranch area, I bet we got about 30" of snow or more so far, with some drifts up to 4ft, at least in our neighborhood. At times the snow thrower was tunneling under the snow or I had to drive up on the snow then backup for a 2nd pass.

Our lightup Frosty is buried up to his eyeballs. Our other Christmas decorations on the lawn are no where to be seen.

The kids have been having fun with sledding, snow ball fights, getting in the path of the snow being thrown by the snow blower, and so on.

Everything is shutdown today around the city. We may not see plows in the neighborhoods until Saturday. Well, that last minute Christmas shopping will truly be last minute.

[TinajaCo]

At least you get snowplows..... we have never had a snowplow down our street-- we're on our own here!! But I have two neighbors right now that are out shoveling (yes, shoveling) the street, trying to make a path out. Total we probably have about 30".

What I love, though, is that we have almost no highways out of the city open, no flights in or out of DIA, no mail delivery, but we can shop-- I saw that most of the malls are re-opening today! I guess if you can get out, it would be a great time to finish up your last-minute Christmas shopping....

[gpraceman]

I guess I shouldn't be surprised that some of the stores would be open. Not that they will be seeing many customers for awhile.

[2bindenver]

I have no idea what the fuss is all about....but hey I am out in Sin City with the family, headed to LA in the morning & then to SF Sunday for xmas with the grandparents before heading home late next week.

It's beautiful here, and not a snowflake to be found.

It is the first blizzard I have missed in 17.5 years of living and breathing in Denver. Oh and it's all over the news (Fox & CNN)

[Mike from back east]

Storm and snow ended in Colorado Springs about 2-3 PM today. Nothing but a clear blue sky now....

Full set of pix, with captions at: http://s40.photobucket.com/albums/e2...zard-20061220/

Storms like this one, with high winds, do weird things. The wind came out of the north, across the backyard to the front of the house. There is virtually no snow on the backyard or deck, but once the wind got to the front of the house it dropped the snow and built drifts. Parts of the street were bare, parts had 15-24 inches, etc. Snow was light and powdery, but at base of drifts it was packed pretty good. Took me two hours to shovel out....so I can get to the gym to get some exercise....hmmmm.....must be uniquely American logic, eh...


Drift in front of garage. Front Range in distance. Behind me is East, looking straight ahead is West, to left is South, to right is North.


Backyard to the right of mine shows drifts 6-7 feet where snow deposited on lee side of wall, yet grass is bare of snow a few feet away from wall

[brocks50]

Originally Posted by vpcats

Jeeeeez. I feel so badly for everybody out there in snow land.
Maybe we can send you some pictures of the Florida Sunshine in the meantime?????
Be careful out there!

i agree abouy 75 today in ft. myers ,but i own 10 a. north of walsenburg on 69 , i guess everybody got clobered

[gpraceman]

On our block we turned it into a party. A neighbor brought out a fire pit and several of us chatted by the fire, roasted marshmellows, drank cocoa (and some things a bit stronger), and watched the kids playing and digging a snow cave.

There was even another neighbor that got his 4WD out and was towing kids around our circle on a sled.

A good time was had by all.

BTW - No need to send us sunshine. We get 300+ days of it here.

[gpraceman]

Here's some photos from our Highlands Ranch neighborhood.



Frosty is up to his chin. Our other lawn decorations are totally buried or barely visible.


Hard to tell that I cleared off the driveway the afternoon before. Glad I bought a snow blower when we moved here. We helpded dig several neighbors out with it.


Hard to tell, but in some places the snow was higher than the top of the snow blower intake, so I did some tunneling.




A drift on our front doorstep, with my daughter showing just how deep it was.
Notice -- CA girl with light jacket (unzipped for that matter), so it wasn't that cold.




Some of our neighbors starting to collect around a fire pit in a neighbors driveway.