On Tuesday, the National Weather Service issued avalanche warnings across the central mountains and much of the back country. Vail pass was a specifically dangerous area. CDOT crews were working around the clock since Thursday to mitigate this threat and make sure travelers remained safe. Parts of I-70 were closed for avalanche mitigation on Wednesday.
These avalanches were at such a high risk due to certain weather conditions. Strong winds, especially towards the peaks, can cause snow to fall down the side of the mountain. February has a very warm start and much of the snow across our mountains melted. Just a week later, snowfall came in buckets. This large amount of snow in such a short time frame also created this high threat. The Colorado Avalanche and Information Center had the area in a High level threat which is a level 4 out of 5 on the avalanche danger scale. This means that conditions were considered to be very dangerous.
Snowfall reports from the ski resorts have over two feet of snow for Vail and other areas. Winter Park and Keystone have gotten between 35 and 36 inches of snow over the past 7 days. There will be some more chances of snow for the high country going into Thursday.
Luckily, after CDOT's mitigation efforts, this threat has now been downgraded to considerable levels which is a level 3 out of 5. Even with this downgrade it's important to adhere to the safety guidelines and have appropriate gear when heading into the back country.
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