Snow totals over past week in Colorado mountains exceed 2019 bomb cyclone
The snow totals from the most recent storm that lasted several days over the past week in Colorado's mountains have exceeded the totals of the bomb cyclone in 2019. Storm totals have reached 60 inches since Jan. 12 at many of the mountains' ski resorts.
Berthoud Pass was closed for days during the storm, Jan. 14 through Jan. 17, due to the large amount of snow removal, avalanche slides, mitigation and adverse conditions. Crews cleared five feet of new snow from the roadway and nearby banks above the road during the severe winter storm.
One snow slide happened at mile point 235.6 just east of the Mary Jane access to Winter Park Ski Resort where it had been at least 30 years since a bank slide happened in that location. The slide was 200 yards long and 10-12 feet high across and delayed clearing snow from Berthoud Pass.
"CDOT crews have been working continuously for a week to clear our roadways and avalanche slide paths to either safely keep open or reopen roads and to ensure the movement of the traveling public and the goods they depend on," said John Lorme, CDOT's director of maintenance and operations in a statement. "For this team, our mission matters most. While the closures this past week were an inconvenience to motorists, we are proud of the proactive measures we took to close the roads when the conditions were unsafe for the traveling public. We helped minimize the number of crashes on our roadways with our safety closures. We are also proud of our continuing strong partnerships with the Colorado Avalanche Information Center and the Colorado State Patrol. It is unity of effort that gets the job done. We work as one team to strategize on the best ways to keep our roads operational, as weather and circumstances allow, knowing that public safety is our number one concern. We wargame the worst-case scenarios before they happen and implement plans to help prevent those scenarios from coming to fruition, as was the case with our closures on Berthoud Pass and Vail Pass."
Crews continue to clear and move snow to make room for the next round of snow.
Drivers are urged to plan on heavy traffic along the I-70 Mountain Corridor and US 40 Berthoud Pass this weekend.
According to the Colorado Department of Transportation, the 2019 bomb cyclone was shorter in duration and much more than a single defined storm compared to last week's storm which was comprised of several features like bursts and lulls in precipitation over the course of six days. The 2019 bomb cyclone is still considered the worst in Colorado in about a century.
