Another Northern Colorado Spring Blizzard Returned on Wednesday

Blaine Howerton
North Forty News

People throughout Northern Colorado got ready for a blizzard at around noon on Wednesday. Several inches of snow had fallen in Fort Collins by 2pm as the National Weather Service Issued a Blizzard Warning. Colorado State University and the University of Northern Colorado closed their campuses. Snow totals continued to rise as schools released in the late afternoon. After-school programs were cancelled forcing families to leave work early.

Posted at https://safety.colostate.edu/:
While Colorado State University is officially closing at 3 p.m., we are receiving reports that visibility is getting poor and roads are icing up. Supervisors are encouraged to send people home as soon as reasonably possible.

The city of Loveland closed Chilson Recreation Center:

Press release from the City of Loveland:
CLOSURE: Parks & Recreation offices are closed as of 2:00PM due to inclement weather. Chilson Recreation Center will close at 3:00PM and re-open Thursday, April 11 at 8:00AM, weather dependent.

The Sprouts grocery store at Drake and Lemay filled with people stocking up for a snow day (or possibly two). “We had people lined up from the front door to the back of the store,” said a checker. “It was crazy.”

Into the evening, the Colorado Department of Transportation closed I76 from Nebraska to Denver and I70 West of Denver due to wind, multiple accidents and icy conditions.

By nightfall, frozen spring flowers could be seen on the sides of roads while the snow continued but slowed down. At 8:30pm the National Weather Service downgraded its Blizzard Warning to a Winter Weather Advisory effective until 10am on Thursday.

Snow will be ending across northeastern Colorado by early Thursday
afternoon as the powerful storm system moves away from Colorado.
Winds will still be blowing out of the north at 35 to 55 mph
during the day. The far northeastern plains could still see
blizzard conditions through about noon, with improving conditions
through the remainder of the day. Light snow showers will continue
across the high country through Thursday night.

Cool and unsettled weather is expected to continue across north
central and northeastern Colorado Friday and Saturday as a weaker
storm system moves across the state. Warmer and drier weather is
expected Sunday and Monday as upper level high pressure builds
over the Rocky Mountain Region with isolated to scattered showers
and storms mainly in the mountains.

The snow is expected to taper off. Warmer weather will come toward the end of the week.

As of 11pm on Wednesday, schools and businesses had not reported Thursday closures.

Editor Note:
North Forty News has chosen not to use the term “Bomb Cyclone” in this post. While “Bomb Cyclone” is a scientific term for the specific weather conditions we are experiencing, we feel it is a term where our readers can interpret conditions as being worse than they actually are. In our opinion, 4″ of snow in the spring in Colorado isn’t really that big of a deal. North Forty News doesn’t desire to participate in sensationalism, rather we hope to represent an accurate picture of the current conditions. Hopefully our readers appreciate our decision. Leave a comment, we would love to hear your thoughts about our decision.