The March snowstorm that pelted the Denver area with more than a foot of snow in some areas Thursday continued to cause closures and delays in the region Friday. 

The storm — which left around 10 inches in Denver, 17 inches in Aurora and 14 inches in Lakewood, according to the National Weather Service Boulder — caused multiple delays and cancellations of school districts and city government offices Friday.

CDOT and highways

The majority of major highways in the region were up and running, following a collection of closures Thursday.

Interstate 70, for example, reopened in both directions Thursday afternoon between Summit County and Denver, according to the Colorado Department of Transportation.

The interstate faced significant closures during the storm, with 18-wheeler trucks getting stuck, causing traffic delays near Georgetown that lasted up to 20 hours. 

The interstate is currently only open for passenger vehicles. It is closed for commercial vehicles until noon Friday. 

The Colorado State Patrol Friday blamed unchained trucks for much of the havoc on I-70 Thursday. 

“Despite extensive warnings from the Colorado State Patrol, Colorado Department of Transportation and local emergency service agencies, some professional drivers failed to comply with Colorado chain law,” according to a news release. “One of the most severely impacted areas was the I-70 corridor from Silverthorne to the Morrison exit, which resulted in an extended closure in both directions on Thursday, trapping motorists until lanes could be cleared and safely reopened late in the afternoon.”

DIA

Denver International Airport, which only saw around 6 inches of snow during the storm, remained on normal operations Friday.

As of 8:30 a.m. Friday, only 20 incoming and outgoing flights were cancelled, with 97 delayed, according to FlightAware. 

Security lines remained short, as well, with standard South Security checkpoint times being the highest in the airport at 17 minutes.

Those heading to DIA can check their flight status and checkpoint estimates at FlyDenver.

State of Emergency

Two Colorado counties declared local disasters and issued a state of emergency, leading to the receival of help from the State Emergency Operations Center (SEOC).

Clear Creek County and Gilpin County both declared a state of emergency Thursday, meaning both counties ran out of resources to help battle the snowstorm and needed help from state and federal agencies.

The declarations will expire in seven days unless they are extended.

“This snowstorm has severely stretched the county’s resources,” Gilpin County Manager Ray Rears said in a news release.

Xcel working OT on power outages 

Xcel Energy continued to scramble Friday to address the power outages caused by the storm. 

Xcel crews restored 933 individual outages affecting 97,296 customers since 6 a.m. Thursday, according to a spokesperson Friday.

“Our crews are currently working on 511 outages affecting 9,339 customers,” the spokesperson said via email. “We have over 300 full-time crew members working 16-hour shifts to get the job done as quickly and safely as possible for customers.”

Here’s a link to the Xcel outage map. 

Snow totals, not close to record-breaking

Though March snowstorms have crushed the region in the past, this doozy doesn’t sit in the top four of all time. 

Though areas like Nederland saw up to 53 inches, Denver’s 8-to-10 didn’t crack the top storms in the past century. 

The top March snowstorms in Denver, according to 9News, are currently:

• 16.9″ on March 20-21, 1952 
• 18″ on March 20-22, 1944
• 18.7″ on March 5-6, 1983
• 27″ on March 13-14, 2021

The Denver Gazette’s news partner, 9News, contributed to this report.