MONUMENT — A blizzard and high wind warnings made for difficult driving north and east of Colorado Springs. Northern El Paso County, including Monument Hill, saw blowing snow, big wind gusts, and snow covered streets on Tuesday morning, and again in the evening.
Many snow plows were out on the streets, treating the roads and clearing snow. One driver said he was nervous to be on the roads.
“It's getting really hard to drive,” Rahman Mohammed said.
Mohammed is from Texas, and he was driving through Colorado Springs on Tuesday.
“I am trying to stay as close to my dad as possible, I am following him. I have my wipers on max speed, to see just a little bit,” Mohammed said.
Mohammed stopped in Monument to pick up some windshield wiper fluid.
“Today it's mostly just the dirt that is kicking up from other cars, that is the main issue, I can't really see out of the windshield when there is dirt on it,” Mohammed said.
While other drivers said they felt safe driving.
“We just hoped for the best, we figured if it got dangerous or we felt unsafe we could just turn around and go back,” Monica Odle said.
Monica Odle and her husband brought their four children to Colorado Springs to celebrate Christmas.
“We are from Texas and we came for winter snow,” Odle said.
With little to no snow in Colorado Springs, Monica Odle and her family drove to Toboggan Hill in Monument in search of the perfect sledding hill.
“This is my kids first time sledding. We are from Texas. We have seen dustings, but they have never seen mountain snow. So today they are figuring out how to sled,” Odle said.
Odle said she saw many snow plows on the road so she felt that it was safe to drive.
“We looked it up and saw it was a blizzard warning and we did not know if it was wise for Texas to drive in blizzard weather but so far so good,” Odle said.
She said they did not want to leave Colorado without playing in the snow.
“I love snow, I will come and just hang out in the snow as long as my body stays warm, it's just you know one of my favorite things,” Odle said.
One of her children, Miles Odle said it was cold, but he was having lots of fun.
“This is my first sledding experience really,” Miles said.
After a couple face plants, Miles, who is 13-years-old, started to get the hang of it.
“Mainly just going straight down without stopping, and just like going really fast is really fun,” Miles said.
He said at home in Texas, they never get weather like this.
“I don't know if I will come back, so I have to have as much fun as I can while I am out here,” Miles said.
Afterwards, Miles hopes he can warm up with a cup of hot chocolate.
“I have never been this cold before so it's kind of interesting. I am bundled up so I am not too cold , just my face is and I can not really feel my chin,” Miles said.
Miles and his siblings had multiple different types of sleds, including the blow up inner tubes.
“It has been trial and error, but when they crash they make a snow angel and they are really happy,” Odle said.
The neighborhood and county streets like Toboggan Hill Road, have more snow pack on them because they are less traveled on than roads such as I-25.
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