Extreme Snow Storm on the Front Range - UPDATE 9pm MST

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 Storm Total Snowfall

Arrow points to Denver. 
This will be an extraordinary storm along the Front Range
and over southeast Wyoming

It is difficult to overstate how serious this storm will likely be. The NWS tries to do so with its new winter storm impact index.

Denver and Boulder are outlined.
The purple, which includes Denver, is a forecast of extreme and life-threatening impacts for anyone not prepared. There is a real threat of power failures. 
  • If you have vulnerable family members or friends, move them in with you by rush-hour Friday evening.
  • Fill your car with fuel. Do the same with a generator you already have installed.
  • Do not try to install a generator on the fly. Half of the fatalities from Hurricane Laura were due to carbon monoxide poisoning associated with generators!
  • Get cash from the ATM or bank.
  • Refill prescriptions.
  • Do not use open fires in the home. People died in Texas from moving charcoal broilers indoors. 
  • Make sure your laptop and cell phone have full charges before any power failures. 

Don't even think of trying to drive through this storm. You should be fine in the Denver area through Friday evening but things will go downhill rapidly during the pre-dawn hours Saturday. 

If you are thinking of traveling in or out of Denver International Airport Saturday through Monday morning, forget it. I don't think that things will return to normal until Tuesday morning, if then. 

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