COLORADO, USA — Heavy mountain snow is causing difficult driving conditions Sunday morning.
The National Weather Service in Boulder said that roads above 9,500 feet that are south of Interstate 70 are seeing the worst impacts Sunday. Traction and chain laws are in effect for many mountain roadways.
Eastbound lanes of I-70 were among the road closures. Lanes were closed early Sunday morning due to a crash. They were back open by 8:30 a.m
Drivers can keep track of road conditions at cotrip.org.
LATEST FORECAST: Mostly cloudy, showery Mother's Day ahead; drier for Monday
Some parts of the mountains have seen well over a foot of snow in what 9NEWS Meteorologist Chris Bianchi says was a serious storm in higher elevations.
In addition, Xcel Energy was reporting up to 3,700 customers were without power Sunday morning, with the majority of outages in the Breckenridge, Fairplay and Leadville areas.
The snow is expected to end later Sunday afternoon.
There have been reports of thundersnow, and Pam Rothman in Conifer was able to catch the booming sound of it on her camera.
In the event of severe winter weather and deteriorating road conditions, CDOT may close state-owned roadways and implement safety closures if there are spinouts or other incidents along the highways.
CDOT said it is important that motorists make sure their vehicles are packed with equipment that may be necessary in the event of a road closure over the holiday weekend.
Motorists can visit COtrip.org, the COtrip Planner app or call 511 for the latest road conditions and updated information about highway closures.
FORECAST: Full forecast
CLOSURES: Full list of closures
ALERTS: Latest Colorado weather alerts
Colorado chain and traction laws
CDOT urged travelers to be aware of chain and traction law codes before heading out on the roadway:
- Code 18/Commercial Chain Law: Commercial vehicles and trucks must have chains. Vehicles without chains can often lose traction, causing traffic delays and sometimes road closures. For the safety of the traveling public, it's critical to use chains to comply with Colorado's chain law.
- Code 15/Passenger Traction Law: All passenger vehicles must have appropriate all-weather tires with 3/16-inch depth. Vehicles must have one of the following: winter tires, tires with mud/snow (M+S) designation, chains or alternative traction devices such as an autosock. 4WD and AWD vehicles must have winter tires or all-weather tires.
- Code 16/Passenger Chain Law: All passenger vehicles need chains, except for 4WD and AWD vehicles with all-weather tires with 3/16-inch tread depth.
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