Denver braces for 2nd major storm in week

Denver braces for 2nd major storm in week
More than 50 flights cancelled as snow moves into region again

Airlines canceled flights and plows patrolled Denver's streets Thursday as another major storm blew toward the city, where 2 feet of snow still lingered from last week's paralyzing blizzard.

If the wind remains as strong as forecast, it could easily whip the snow into blinding whiteouts by Friday, the National Weather Service warned.

Eighteen inches of snow was forecast for the Denver area starting Thursday, with as much as 2 1/2 feet of snow in the foothills. That could shut down area highways all over again and possibly delay flights at Denver International Airport, where thousands of holiday travelers were stranded for about two days during the last storm.

Frontier Airlines, the airport's second-busiest carrier, canceled more than 50 flights Thursday and Friday in anticipation of the storm. It also waived its usual fee for passengers catching an earlier flight to avoid the weather.

"We thought, you know what, given what happened last time, in our anticipation that maybe the airport would close again, let's try and get as many people out ahead of the storm as we can," Frontier spokesman Joe Hodas said.

During last week's blizzard, the nation's fifth largest airport was closed to all flights for 45 hours, leaving about 4,700 people to spend a night or more in the terminal.

The storm virtually shut down life along the Front Range, the 170-mile corridor along the foot of the Rockies that's home to 3.8 million people in Denver, Colorado Springs and other cities. Highways, schools and businesses closed, and even the mail couldn't get through.

Many Colorado cities were still trying to recover on Thursday, chipping away at the thick ice and packed snow that layered some streets as the new storm approached.

"Believe it or not, the first storm is not over for us," said Saleem Khattak, streets manager for Colorado Springs' Public Works Department.

Twenty of the state Transportation Department's 900 plows broke down during last week's storm. Ten have been repaired but the others might not be ready, department spokeswoman Stacey Stegman said.

Denver and airport officials have been fending off criticism of their snow-removal efforts almost since the storm hit.

On Wednesday, Mayor John Hickenlooper said the city had hired a consultant with experience helping other large airports, including Chicago's O'Hare. He and airport aviation manager Turner West said the airport could end up buying more equipment and hiring more workers.

In California, another powerful winter storm left tens of thousands without power on Thursday as winds gusted to near-hurricane force and blowing snow closed a stretch of Interstate 5 in the mountains north of Los Angeles.

"It was whiteout conditions. You just couldn't see anything. To complicate things, there was ice and snow on the roads," California Highway Patrol Officer Terry Liu said.

The weather service in California warned that the dangerous winds, with gusts over 70 mph, would likely persist through Friday morning in the region's valleys and mountain passes.