In Colorado, 70 Degrees One Day, Then Record Blizzard

12.1 inches fell on Denver
By Arden Dier,  Newser Staff
Posted Mar 24, 2016 6:48 AM CDT
In Colorado, 70 Degrees One Day, Then Record Blizzard
A semi-truck is jackknifed on I-25 in Colorado Springs, Colo.   (Jerilee Bennett/The Gazette via AP))

In like a lion, out like a lion? A day after temperatures reached 70 degrees, 12.1 inches of snow blanketed Denver International Airport on Wednesday—with the spring snow entering the books as the biggest snow accumulation of 2016, reports CBS Denver. With snow falling as fast as 2 inches per hour, the airport axed more than 1,000 flights; the Denver Post notes it was the first snow closure there in nearly a decade.

The storm left hundreds of drivers stranded on area highways, with the Colorado National Guard sent in to help drivers on I-25 between Denver and Colorado Springs, reports NBC News. On I-70 east of Denver, some people waited more than eight hours in their vehicles. Others left their cars for shelters. Two feet of snow fell on nearby Boulder in what has been dubbed Winter Storm Selene, per USA Today, while 190,000 customers lost power across the state. Storms could still hit from Nebraska to Wisconsin, but the Post notes Colorado will soon shake off the white stuff: Thursday is set to be sunny and in the 40s. (More winter weather stories.)

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