journey into Summit County Friday Morning 3.27.09

mikesathome

mikesathome

New member
=D> A WINTER STORM WATCH REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM LATE TONIGHT THROUGH
LATE THURSDAY NIGHT.

SNOW IS EXPECTED TO INCREASE IN INTENSITY ACROSS THE MOUNTAINS
WEDNESDAY NIGHT AND MAY BE HEAVY INTO THURSDAY NIGHT. SNOWFALL
AMOUNTS UP TO 16 INCHES ARE POSSIBLE AS THIS STORM MOVES OVER THE
NORTH CENTRAL COLORADO MOUNTAINS. [-o<




A few questions as I plan my journey into Summit County Friday Morning

If this storm holds true, I was hoping to get some turns in Friday afternoon at A-Basin (I got a coupon!)

Flight should land at 7:30am > Grab my 4x4 Jeep liberty > Pick up UPS box just outside of Denver> Starbucks breakfast> and head to the MT’s

Questions are:

Should I expect a massive load of people on I-70 coming to the Summit County area? After Mondays storm and this one, I am sure some locals are looking for the fresh stuff.

If the storm holds true, how bad do you think Loveland Pass (RT 6) would be? I should be there(RT6) by 10 or 11am

I know I70 is taking care of pretty good (of course you can’t control other idiots that cause accidents) I don’t plan on having chains.

After A-Basin I have a room in BREK. How is that Swan Mountain Rd after a good dump?
 
mikesathome":3iahhcax said:
A few questions as I plan my journey into Summit County Friday Morning

If this storm holds true, I was hoping to get some turns in Friday afternoon at A-Basin (I got a coupon!)

Flight should land at 7:30am > Grab my 4x4 Jeep liberty > Pick up UPS box just outside of Denver> Starbucks breakfast> and head to the MT’s

Questions are:

Should I expect a massive load of people on I-70 coming to the Summit County area? After Mondays storm and this one, I am sure some locals are looking for the fresh stuff.

If the storm holds true, how bad do you think Loveland Pass (RT 6) would be? I should be there(RT6) by 10 or 11am

I know I70 is taking care of pretty good (of course you can’t control other idiots that cause accidents) I don’t plan on having chains.

After A-Basin I have a room in BREK. How is that Swan Mountain Rd after a good dump?
Click to expand...


That's a freaking early flight! Anyway, average locals won't be crowding I-70 in the mid-am; hard core types maybe really early am (when you're landing) and lots of average joes heading up for one last weekend of skiing after work I would expect... The best day to ski would be Thurs itself if you're a true powder hound (storm supposed to start ~9pm-ish tonight).

If the storm drops as much as predicted (with predicted winds too), Loveland pass may well be closed. It closes very frequently in big storms since CDOT has the tunnel option for traffic. Or best case, maybe just re-opening after having been closed. PITA, but you may have to head down to Dillon then back up to the Basin which adds 20 min. This storm is even supposed to drop significant snow on the front range so your whole drive could be snowy including potential for a horrific traffic jam in Denver during the am rush hour... (we'll see, often the most hyped storms don't deliver in Denver).

You don't need chains. Only 16pack vans and up and commercial vehicles get the chains in Colo. If roads get really bad for passenger cars like your rental they will simply shut I-70 down (does happen a couple times per year - but not often).

In theory at least - by Fri afternoon should be sunny or at least not completely overcast. Swan mtn should be OK by then (maybe a little icy on the going-up side -keystone side- which is more shaded).
 
They've bumped the forecast(hype) up somewhat this afternoon... Can it happen? You bet - 2003 ended up with 2x to 3x what this predicts. Exact storm track is critical though... 8" & Denver will be tough but do-able driving; 15" and Denver will be a stand still (Interstates get hit by plows by far more than any other roads - aka the UPS pick up could be very difficult in such a scenario). I'll try to update Thurs afternoon if things do come in with big snow.


...STRONG WINTER-LIKE STORM TAKING AIM ON NORTHEAST COLORADO LATER
TONIGHT THROUGH THURSDAY NIGHT...

THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR NORTHEAST AND NORTH CENTRAL
COLORADO.

.DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT

SNOW WILL BECOME WINGSPREAD AND HEAVY AT TIMES IN THE HIGH COUNTRY
OF NORTH CENTRAL COLORADO LATE TONIGHT AS A POTENT WINTER-LIKE
STORM SYSTEM MOVES INTO THE FOUR CORNER AREA. WHILE SCATTERED SNOW
SHOWERS ARE EXPECTED TO DEVELOP IN THE FRONT RANGE FOOTHILLS AND ON
THE NEARBY PLAINS TOWARDS MORNING. STRONG AND GUSTY SOUTHWEST WINDS
ARE LIKELY TO PRODUCE AREAS OF BLOWING SNOW PARTICULARLY ON THE HIGH
MOUNTAIN PASSES.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...THURSDAY THROUGH TUESDAY

SNOW WILL BE WIDESPREAD ACROSS THE ENTIRE AREA BY MIDDAY
THURSDAY WITH SNOW BECOMING HEAVY AT TIMES THURSDAY AFTERNOON
THROUGH THURSDAY NIGHT ACROSS THE FRONT RANGE FOOTHILLS AND PLAINS.
SNOWFALL RATES WILL APPROACH 2 INCHES PER HOUR IN THE HEAVIER SNOW.
NORTHEAST WINDS WILL INCREASE TO 20 TO 35 MPH BY AFTERNOON WITH
BLOWING AN DRIFTING SNOW. SNOW WILL BEGIN TO DIMINISH LATE THURSDAY
NIGHT AND FRIDAY MORNING.

EXPECT 1 TO 2 FEET OF SNOW ACROSS THE EAST SLOPE OF THE
MOUNTAINS...FOOTHILLS AND PALMER DIVIDE REGION. THE URBAN CORRIDOR
CAN EXPECT 8 TO 15 INCHES...WHILE 5 TO 10 INCHES ARE POSSIBLE OVER
THE FAR NORTHEAST PLAINS.

EXPECT EXTREME WINTER DRIVING CONDITIONS AS ROADS WILL BECOME
SNOWPACKED WITH POOR VISIBILITIES. THIS WILL RESULT IN POOR DRIVING
CONDITIONS AND POSSIBLE ROAD CLOSURES.
Click to expand...
 
Glad i picked an early flight in, gives me time in case i need to wait a while until they can get the highways in better shape if needed.

Thanks for the local input EMSC, very much appreciated

looks like the skiing will be great once i get there \:D/
 
Man it's not looking good for me to fly in

Southwest Airlines has cancelled all of its 82 flights out of DIA today, and the other airlines are rapidly bogging down in the heavy snow blanketing the metro area.

Frontier Airlines has cancelled nearly 90 of 300 flights for today and is struggling to stay open.

"It's going to be very difficult to fly the rest of today," said Frontier spokesman Steve Snyder. "If you don't have to fly today, you shouldn't even try."

United Airlines has cancelled 63 of its 180 flights out of DIA, with more expected, according to its operations office.

Hope the storm can exit Denver sooner than later.

The double edge sword, skier loves snow, but can't fly in to enjoy it ](*,)
 
Don't give up hope yet. DIA has relatively little snow so far, mostly 40MPH winds and no visibility. Depends on when the storm winds down... Anywhere from 3am to 10am Fri are the predictions...

Denver itself was up around 6" and more like a foot at my place (further west). That was at 1pm local time. I'm ticked that I woke up sick as a dog after going to bed feeling fine #-o ](*,) :-&

As expected Loveland pass is closed... and Interstates are currently ~30MPH speeds.
 
Back in the day when I was living in Denver/Boulder, the big selling point for building DIA (I was very happy with relatively close-in Stapleton) was that it'd be able to operate during snowstorms.

Obviously, that never panned out. Thank god the mall part of the airport delivered on its promise. \:D/
 
jamesdeluxe":l6d5ixq4 said:
Obviously, that never panned out.
Click to expand...

:lol: :lol: :lol:

Primary reason the Wyoming Intl Airport was built was for politicos and their buddies to rake in huge $$ - like Pena. Though it is true that all these years later Stapleton would never have been close to able to handle the normal daily flight traffic that there is now.

Mikesathome - looks like DIA will stay 'open', though very low flight volume for now. Storm has turned into periods of heavy snow instead of continuous. Roads are going to be a real mixed bag - even the interstates. Good luck!
 
My understanding is that DIA has multiple orientation of runways. Therefore high winds that would close all runways at Stapleton only close some at DIA. Thus the "low flight volume."
 
4 runways point basically N-S, 2 point basically E-W. De-icing procedure and driving bags around, etc... in a 40mph wind w/snow drifts is probably more limiting this storm (that's just a guess of course) - Wind is out of nearly due N this afternoon.
 
Tony Crocker":309cx1gl said:
My understanding is that DIA has multiple orientation of runways. Therefore high winds that would close all runways at Stapleton only close some at DIA. Thus the "low flight volume."
Click to expand...

It's the standard-issue north/south, east/west orientation:

denver international airport.jpg


Just like everywhere, it's not a huge concern if planes can take off and land into the wind. Add a significant cross-wind element and they'd shut down just like anywhere else.
 
Maybe Mikesathome was trying to sneak into Colo 8-[ 8-[

Anything we should know about Mike? :lol:
 
LOL
I thought long and hard (10 seconds) before I started the post on where to put it, yes i will be in Colorado, but it was not a TR

Anyways, I made it in to DIA 7:50am, and was snowboarding at A-Basin by 12:30.\ \:D/

Nice day, good snow, and short lift lines (hmm now this is turning into a TR) :lol:


Long day, bed time, skiing Breckenridge in the am, ski in walk out :p
 
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