Where's all the F$%ING SNOW?

[Tigerbear]

There is over a foot of new snow at Monarch Ski area and they are grooming. Lot's of AT and snowshoes up there today!

[Bean]

How does Colorado do the snow plowing? In Missouri, they plow during a snow storm, and right after they plow the street gets more snow on it and they must plow again later. In Madison, Wisconsin, they just wait until the end of the snow storm and then plow. Wisconsin's idea seems better to me, you only have to plow once instead of doing two or three times. Now, I'm curious how Colorado does it since you guys get so much snow (lucky).

Here in Denver they pretty much wait until the snow melts, which bites in the them ass when it really snows like it did two winters ago. I have rarely seen a plow out when the storm is at its fullest. They send out the salt trucks before the storm and then seem to wait until the storm has passed before the plows come out in force and then it is time to play catch up.

When I lived in Minnesota the plows were out in force all through the storm and people thought nothing of getting out to go to work, head out to the park, go shopping, etc.

Two winters ago I saw city of denver's plows out on Colfax and Lincoln during the heaviest parts of the storms. They only have so much money for plowing, so they can't have 1000 trucks out, and make do with what they have (and they usually do pretty decently).

The problem is that frequently the storm hits hard during rush hour, and the plows are completely ineffective unless they can keep up their speed. When that happens all they can do is wait until traffic clears out.

[cwm]

Waiting until the storm stops to plow only works if you do not allow any traffic to drive on the snow. Once you compact the snow with traffic it makes it very difficult to move the snow. Instead of the blade getting down to the pavement it just rides on top of the compacted snow. So it is more like you are grooming the snow.

[michelle]

I hate that to, here in Missouri, they'll be like, "major snow storm coming folks. Looks like we're going to getting a whopping 4 inches. You can offically freak out over nothing. Schools will be canceled for the next two days until these four inches melt."

Thank you.

After traveling around the Front Range tonight, I was starting to believe that I might be the only one left in the state of Colorado who doesn't think that you need to stay locked up at home every single time it snows! I was out for a while tonight, and as I drove through Arvada in what couldn't have been more than an inch and a half of snow (at the time), the radio was already reporting that I-70 was closed at Floyd Hill, Hwy 119 was closed, and Hwy 58 between Wheat Ridge and Golden was closed (the last one was what really shocked me). Seriously, people need to get a clue if they want to be out, or stay home if they can't handle it (I also suppose they could always move to somewhere where it doesn't snow)!

Anymore it seems like the schools close for damn near any adverse weather, and many businesses also close when the snow gets deeper than about 6 inches. Personally, I grew up in the Lake Effect snow region of NE Ohio, and took my actual driver's license test on a day when we probably had 8" of the white stuff on the ground. Snow is a reality of winter in this area of the country, so I simply can't understand why it is so crippling to this metro area!

There was a talk radio fella back home that used to mock the weather people on the news and call them "clima-terrorists" when they'd get all worked up over 4" of snow. I'm sure the main reason for closing schools for .5" of snow is safety AKA liability issues.

[14erkid]

Wolf Creek Ski Area is all open. :D

[curtiswm]

Wolf Creek Ski Area is all open. :D

Yep, 30" over the weekend and it's 100% open, wish I could be there.

[stlouishiker]

Wolf Creek Ski Area is all open. :D

Yep, 30" over the weekend and it's 100% open, wish I could be there.

You guys are so lucky. Thirty inches of snow, it hasn't even gotten lower than 38 in St. Louis

[Carl]

Yeah snow.

[Bean]

Yeah snow.

Seconded.

[skiwall]

How much did you guys get? Pictures look great! I did some explora-touring in the Wasatch yesterday with our grand total of about 10 inches. It's so great to get out again!!! :D

[Duffus Kentucky Climber]

Bluebird day here yesterday. Crystal clear and 70 degrees. Walked the dogs in shorts and t shirt. I don't think I'll be ready to ski by January!

[Dancesatmoonrise]

Yeah snow.

Seconded.

Kudos on the very impressive photo.

Mind posting exif data? What are you shooting? Thx.