Heavy Mountain Snow Takes Toll On Trees & Travel

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DENVER (CBS4) - An unusually heavy early season snowstorm slammed into the mountains of central and northern Colorado late Sunday.

While the snow really wasn't all that heavy in terms of accumulation (by mountain standards) the water content of the snow was on the high side, especially for such high elevations.

Heavy wet snow weighs down trees in Steamboat Springs. (credit: Shannon Lukens)

Heavy snow in Winter Park. (credit: Laurie Talbott)

The water-loaded snow was too heavy for some trees that still have their leaves which resulted in several reports of broken branches from Steamboat Springs to Vail and Silverthorne to Winter Park.

The storm also made for some tough travel on routes such as Interstate 70 overnight Sunday and early Monday with numerous accidents and intermittent closures.

The weather conditions are expected to slowly improve by Tuesday morning.

I-70 westbound at the Eisenhower-Johnson Tunnel (credit: CBS)

Meteorologist Chris Spears travels weekly in the CBS4 Mobile Weather Lab reporting about Colorado's weather and climate. Check out his bio, connect with him on Facebook or follow him on Twitter @ChrisCBS4.