Blizzard — Phillips County, Colorado

2018-04-13 to 2018-04-14 · Phillips County, Colorado

Event narrative

Blowing and drifting snow caused extensive outages across Phillips County. The hardest hit areas were south of Haxtun and Fleming. There were about 10 poles broken and numerous broken cross-arms. Most of the outages were caused by lines galloping; with ice on the lines and the strong winds slapping them together.

Wider weather episode

A powerful storm system moved over northeast Colorado on the 13th, then slowly exited into the Central Plains on the 14th. The storm produced blizzard conditions over the far northeastern plains of Colorado, with high winds elsewhere. Snow and blowing snow produced extensive drifting snow up to 7 feet deep, along with near zero visibility. The dangerous conditions made the roads impassable and stranded motorists over northeast Lincoln, Logan, Phillips, Sedgwick, and Washington counties. Consequently, I-76 east of Sterling, I-70 east of Limon and nearly all other roads and highways across Northeast and East-Central Colorado were closed due to hazardous driving conditions. In total, more than a dozen semi-trucks were blown over. Eight semi trucks west of Akron, along Colorado Highway 34 were blown over. Blizzard conditions made it nearly impossible to get tow trucks to accidents and rescue stranded motorists. The dangerous conditions also caused widespread power outages and strayed cattle. Some livestock was lost, mainly calves.

Numerous trees were snapped or uprooted in the Hugo and Limon areas. A large tree, 2.5 ft in diameter, was knocked over in Hugo. Peak wind gusts included: 78 mph at Akron-Washington County Airport, 76 mph at Limon Municipal Airport, 72 mph in Hugo and Sterling, 71 mph near Bennett and Genoa, 65 mph at Briggsdale, 62 mph, 7 miles northwest of Boyero and Denver International Airport; 60 mph, 8 miles south of Holyoke and near Wiggins; 59 mph near Keenesburg, 12 miles east-northeast of Kiowa, 7 miles south of Shamrock and Woodlin School; 58 mph at Agate, Front Range Airport in Watkins, Kassler and 11 miles west-northwest of Westplains. Snowfall totals ranged from 4 to 10 inches.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 751876. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.