Canon City not hit as hard by storm
CANON CITY _ Fremont County residents spent much of Sunday cleaning up broken branches and watching snow melt, as they recovered from the weekend storm that wreaked havoc in the Upper Arkansas River Valley.
At the Fremont-Pueblo county line east of Penrose on U.S. 50, 12 inches of snow was measured by noon Saturday and the highway was closed between Penrose and Pueblo due to drifting snow and poor visibility, according to the Colorado State Patrol. In the Wet Mountain Valley, residents measured anywhere from 8 inches to 1 12 feet of snow.
In Canon City, six inches of snow fell overnight Friday, producing more than an inch of moisture while the temperature dipped to 23 degrees. Snow continued to fall throughout the morning Saturday.
Texas Creek reported 24 inches, both Buena Vista and Howard reported 10 inches and Salida reported 12 inches and an overnight low of 16 degrees.
In Canon City, most residents stayed home Saturday although U.S. 50 was open all day and it was not difficult for travelers to get to stores. Roads were much improved and travel west of Canon City was normal on Sunday.
At the height of the storm there were flurries of brief power outages, and there were scattered reports of small fires started by downed power lines.
Some phone lines were knocked out in the Westcliffe area during the storm, and the Custer County Search and Rescue was activated to check on some hunters who were caught in the snow.
Colorado 96 between Wetmore and Westcliffe was open Saturday but travel in te Hardscrabble canyon was "strongly discouraged" by the State Patrol.