Storm That Paralyzed U.S. Midwest Is Heading Here
Posted December 21, 2006 12:00 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Oh, the weather outside isn’t frightful.
And while not everyone’s finding it delightful
Because we’ve got places to go
Don’t let it snow, let it snow, let it snow.
It may never replace the original. But since Thursday was the first day of winter – it officially arrived at 7:22pm – and it was the shortest day of the year for sunlight, you can’t blame people for wanting to get away from it all for the holidays.
Pearson International Airport is the usual madhouse, with experts advising Saturday will actually be the busiest day to travel.
The crowds have arrived early and will be there right through the weekend.
But while we may gripe about the line-ups, at least we can expect to get where we’re going. As long as you’re not planning on doing any skiing in Denver.
An emergency has been declared in parts of the state of Colorado, after a massive storm dumped as much two feet of snow in some places.
But wind whipped drifts have left it as high as six feet in the hardest hit spots and it simply won’t stop coming, leaving airports closed and thousands of people stranded.
And it’s not likely those spending their days and nights at Denver International will be going anywhere soon. Flights are expected to stay grounded until at least Friday.
That’s left most of them camping out on benches or floors, with nowhere to go and no way to get there.
“I have no luggage,” Helen Herringer notes stoically. “They have no idea where it is. But I have a cot, so I’m pretty well off.”
At least 100 people had to be rescued from the roads after being stranded in their cars.
Sara Kelton spent two hours crawling over snow-slicked roads to get to the airport only to find her flight was cancelled. “I’m just happy to be alive,” she admits. “It was a terrifying drive.”
And if this isn’t a sign of the system’s ferocity, nothing is. With just four days to go before Christmas, nearly every mall in the Mile High City was closed for the day.
The disturbance that’s causing all this is heading our way, expected to affect the G.T.A. before the weekend.
But there’s one big difference. Mother Nature’s good graces and our good luck will hold and all of it will fall as rain.
We could get a real drenching by the time the system moves through but those dreaming of a white Christmas will have to keep dreaming.
Cottage country could get some freezing rain, but only the far north will see the kind of snow that the U.S. Midwest is digging out of.
It means you can leave the snow shovel inside. And that could be the best present we get for Christmas this year.
To check out the long range forecast and the current conditions, click here.
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