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Adin Steward, left, and Rabin Tamayo, employees at Weidner Field, shovel snow into piles on the field Friday. Dozens of people gathered to help clear snow in preparation for the Switchbacks FC season opener against Detroit City FC on Saturday. 60si2mn Tiller Blade
The bright colorful homes of Gold Hill Mesa create a stark contrast to snow that blankets the area Friday in Colorado Springs. Parts of Colorado Springs got as many as 22 inches of snow during the 2-day winter storm.
Snow removal was a group effort Friday morning, as neighbors gathered to shovel and plow streets, sidewalks and driveways in Colorado Springs.
Fans came out to Weidner Field on Friday to clear snow ahead of a home opener game on Saturday.
Adin Steward, left, and Rabin Tamayo, employees at Weidner Field, shovel snow into piles on the field Friday. Dozens of people gathered to help clear snow in preparation for the Switchbacks FC season opener against Detroit City FC on Saturday.
The bright colorful homes of Gold Hill Mesa create a stark contrast to snow that blankets the area Friday in Colorado Springs. Parts of Colorado Springs got as many as 22 inches of snow during the 2-day winter storm.
Snow removal was a group effort Friday morning, as neighbors gathered to shovel and plow streets, sidewalks and driveways in Colorado Springs.
When the snow finally stopped in most parts of Colorado Springs on Friday afternoon, out came the shovels and snow plows to clear a path through record-shattering snow accumulation.
Those accumulation records, by the way, were set well before the snow stopped. More on that later.
Among the efforts were fans of the Colorado Springs Switchbacks, who answered a social media callout to clear Weidner Field ahead of their home soccer opener against Detroit City FC on Saturday. The storm's wet, heavy snow was piled high on the stands and field, undoing the work an operations crew had done over the course of Thursday to get the venue ready.
Fans came out to Weidner Field on Friday to clear snow ahead of a home opener game on Saturday.
Axel Learn, Switchbacks director of creative services, said the United Soccer League franchise expected a dozen fans to come help. More than 100 came, helping to clear all but a few remaining piles.
"We moved a lot," he said. "The stadium is mostly cleared."
Volunteers were given free barbeque and tickets to the game.
Colorado Springs soccer fans had their work cut out for them. Snowfall accumulation totals for the storm by Thursday evening, according to measurements at the Colorado Springs Airport, had reached 10.2 inches.
That more than doubled the previous record snowfall for March 14 of 4.6 inches back in 1937.
Friday night brought even more snow, according to the National Weather Service. Colorado Springs saw 8 to 22 inches total in various parts of the city, and higher-elevation areas had much more. Manitou Springs saw up to 44 inches of accumulation, while Woodland Park had up to 36. The highest National Weather Service total at Monument was 28 inches.
All that snow caused numerous closures around the city Friday after almost universal school shutdowns on Thursday. Military installations like Fort Carson and the Air Force Academy were likewise open only to essential personnel.
Sporadic power outages affected some areas Thursday, and crews worked overnight and Friday morning to make repairs. Hundreds of customers with Black Hills Energy in the area of Cañon City and Pueblo were without power, and some areas remained affected as of Friday evening.
The Teller County Board of County Commissions announced a local state of emergency Friday, citing "extremely high snow accumulation" which had put strain on "on the public, first responders and Teller County Services." The declaration said stranded motorists and the need to plow roads were taxing limited local resources.
Colorado Springs public works crews were still out in force Friday night, with 50 plow trucks attempting to mitigate icy road conditions from falling temperatures. Crews also took advantage of sunshine Friday to clear secondary roads and school zones. Residential road clearing was set to start between 8 and 9 p.m. Friday night and continue until complete.
Public works paid special attention to removing snow piles downtown ahead of the Saint Patrick's Day parade.
The forecast for the weekend does not promise a big melt, meteorologist Kyle Mozley with the National Weather Service in Pueblo said. Temperatures will climb into the mid 30s on Saturday and the low 40s on Sunday, but Mozley said the snowpack will contribute to chilly temps. The weekend will remain cloudy with a chance of scattered snow or rain showers.
Monday and Tuesday will be much warmer, with highs reaching into the 50s.
The long-term affects of the storm could be lower risk for wildfire, especially in the short term forecast, said Mozley. Moisture in fuel combined with low forecasted winds may offer a reprieve from fire danger. He said that season snowpack had reached 100% normal at most mountain monitoring stations.
Jennifer Jordan with Colorado Springs Utilities said that the extra snow at the end of the season is a net benefit to the area's watersheds, including those that serve the city's water usage. She said that in addition to the Colorado River, the city receives some of its supply from the Arkansas River basin, which was within the coverage of the storm.
Jordan said that the city's current water supply had 3.2 years of on-demand storage, 84% of the system's capacity. At the same time last year, the city was at 71.2% capacity.
With record-breaking snowfall amounts and extended power outages across much of Teller County, county officials say enough major effects are s…
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