DENVER — A severe thunderstorm that dumped inches of hail and rain onto the metro area Thursday left visitors to some of Denver's favorite pastime places taking cover and pressing pause on the fun.
Video and pictures started making the rounds on social media from summertime visitors caught in the storm at Elitch Gardens and Coors Field. While some ran for cover from the pelting hail, others played in the weather like giddy kids on a snow day.
Sports reporter Suzie Hunter reported the weather and game delays from the stadium during Thursday's storm. The Rockies were set to take on the L.A. Dodgers in a series finale at 6:10 p.m., but weather caused a two-hour delay with the first pitch not thrown until 8:30 p.m.
Hunter even reported that hail somehow made it into the press box sitting over home plate.
Some of the Rockies players were giddy at the sight of the white, snow-like blanket of hail left on the playing field. Catcher Elias Diaz plopped down in the hail and created a "snow angel" in the hail as everyone around him laughs.
Another video tweet shows Diaz joined by teammate German Marquez as they write their names in the snow and make a hail snowball.
The visitors' dugout did not fare the flooding well...
Meanwhile, over at Elitch Gardens. 9NEWS viewer Julie Perry Nelson was visiting with her daughter, three other moms and six other kids when the storm swept through the water park. She said she and other park visitors took cover in the bathroom areas around 3:15 p.m.
"We were celebrating one of the families coming back to Colorado to visit us," said Nelson. "Two of us moms sheltered in the ladies' room near the lockers and the waterpark. There had to be a couple of hundred people in the locker room including about 10-15 lifeguards."
Nelson said there were a few small children who were scared of the intense lightning.
"One strike was so close it sounded like a ride got hit!" she said. "Quite a few people screamed at that one. Sadly, one of the moms got stuck under a large umbrella near the lazy river. She was freezing as the rain and hail was pelting her."
All of their belongings were soaked by the rain. "We knew the water park was closing as the lifeguards started packing up after about 45 minutes," she said.
Commuters were also sent scrambling Thursday afternoon when inches of rain dumped onto the city's interstates, underpasses and roads leading into Denver's northwest suburbs.
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