Metro anxieties ease as snow moves east

In Denver, storm's bark proves worse than its white

Todd Hartman, Lou Kilzer And Felix Doligosa Jr., Rocky Mountain News

Published December 30, 2006 at midnight

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A winter storm that threatened to again paralyze the metro area never packed the same punch as last week's blizzard and appeared to be taking its act east for the weekend.

Parts of the region, particularly the foothills, still took a big hit, with more than 2 feet of new snow in places.

But by Friday afternoon, forecasters had turned their focus to regions south and east of Denver.

That's where greater snowfall and higher winds were bringing more dangerous, blizzard-like conditions, as ranchers and emergency workers reported near whiteouts on the eastern Plains.

Authorities reported two deaths, including a tow-truck driver killed on Interstate 70 near Burlington.

And the National Guard rescued stranded motorists, including a bus filled with skiers who are members of a Texas youth group, in Springfield in the southeastern corner of the state.

The Front Range is "hopefully through the worst part of this storm. . . . It was not as bad as we feared," said Gov. Bill Owens, who declared the second state of emergency in as many weeks.

The eastern Plains, Owens said, are "still not out of the woods."

Early predictions had called for the storm to intensify Friday in the Denver region, but it never lived up to the hype, dropping only 7 to 15 inches in Denver and outlying areas.

Denver, DIA exhale

But the poser of a storm came as a relief to Denver's snowplow fleet and Denver International Airport, both of which took heat last week for what some thought was a slow response to the pre-Christmas blizzard.

Main streets and highways were kept clear of snow and, after so much griping the first time around, Denver's residential streets got more attention.

Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper deployed trucks from other departments - as well as Denver Public Schools, Denver Water and private contractors - to keep streets passable.

Hickenlooper, savaged by criticism last week, wouldn't count his chickens yet, however, and intended to keep an "armada" of heavy and light vehicles prowling Denver's streets in search of ice and slush.

He also fretted over how to deal with side streets covered with a thick "plate of ice," formed when vehicles compressed fast- falling snow during the previous storm, and said the city would work on it.

DIA remained open, as plows kept up with snow that fell at a slower rate and in lower volumes.

And despite about 500 flight cancellations during the past two days, the numbers of stranded passengers celebrating bar- stool holidays were far less than those who suffered through the airport's record 45-hour shutdown that stretched into Christmas weekend.

Travelers scheduled to fly in or out of Denver today should be in the clear.

And, airline officials said, there should be sufficient room on planes to help many of the more than 55,000 travelers whose flights were canceled Thursday and Friday.

Easy going for commuters

Anxiety, triggered by predictions that the latest storm might be even worse than last week's blizzard, left much of the Denver area quiet Friday, as many business and government offices closed and people worked from home or extended the holiday weekend with another day off.

That proved a bonus for those who did drive into town Friday. They were treated to a wide-open commute that proved easier than most snow-free weekdays. The same went for RTD riders, who boarded empty trains and buses, all running a full schedule, with the exception of a mountain route between Boulder and Nederland.

RTD plans to run its full Saturday and Sunday schedules of buses and trains, said spokesman Scott Reed, assuming the storm continues to fade.

That includes its full schedule of BroncosRide express buses and enhanced light rail to Invesco Field at Mile High, as well as extra light-rail trains for the Nuggets game and the downtown Denver New Year's Eve fireworks display Sunday night.

The Downtown Denver Business Improvement District, which co-sponsors the fireworks show, has been working since last week on snow removal and cleanup on the 16th Street Mall.

"It's all systems go," said Susan Rogers-Kark, director for Downtown Denver Events Inc., producer of the fireworks show.

Tow-truck driver killed

Things were worse on the eastern Plains. Tow-truck driver Joe C. Tatenhorst, 60, of Burlington, was killed after a car slid out of control and hit him and his parked truck Thursday night on Interstate 70 near Burlington in Kit Carson County. None of the four people in the car, all from Denver, was injured, authorities said.

And the state Division of Emergency Management reported that one person had been killed Thursday night in a storm-related traffic accident on Interstate 70 in Kit Carson County.

Also, in southeastern Colorado, a busload of Texas skiers were stranded by snow in Baca County and were hunkered down in a local church while the storm passed, after their bus slid off the road, despite having chains on the tires.

George Epp, head of DEM, sent National Guard members to Springfield in southeastern Colorado to dig out stranded motorists and find them shelters, find missing drivers and clear paths through 4-foot-high drifts.

"The eastern Plains are the usual mess," Epp said. "The big ones come every three to seven years, and we forget the lessons in between storms."

Today's flights should be OK

• Flying into or out of DIA? Today should be clear for takeoff as airlines bounce back.

• What about cancellations? Airlines, which cut an estimated 500 flights at Denver International Airport over the past two days, said Friday night they expect few cancellations today.

Light snow, cold

The snowstorm that threatened to linger around Denver into the weekend instead moved south and east, and wasn't predicted to have much effect on the metro area, the National Weather Service said.

• Today: Light snow showers, no accumulation. Temperatures will remain in 20s.

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