Western Railroad Discussion > Cheyenne BLizzard today

Any reports from Cheyenne ? First big snow has I80 & I25 closed this morning:

http://www.wyoroad.info/highway/webcameras/I80Summit/I80Summit.html

Saw on Weather Channel this morning, 15in! of snow in Northplatte? 5in in Omaha!

Stay home, at least until later in the day, and check in then -- this stuff is supposed to moderate a bit mid-day. It is a rugged day for this time of the year in north central Colorado and southeastern Wyoming.

Temps are well below freezing -- currently 10 in Cheyenne, 18 in Denver and where I am near Boulder (breaks the old record of 25 by 7 degrees!). Fog and mist reported almost everywhere -- that equates to ice fog conditions in such temps and elevations in this area, which I can tell you from considerable experience is nothing to mess with.

You can't get into or out of Cheyenne or Laramie -- Interstates 80 and 25 and US 287 and 87 and shut down. They closed I-25 north of Wellington CO near the border at 8:00 Friday night -- those of us who live here know that's a signal sign of trouble, as it happens a lot in winter at that point where I-25 starts to gain some elevation up onto the windy High Plains Escarpment -- that's why there's a huge wind turbine farm off to the east. Likewise US 287, a favored route to the west side of Sherman Hill and Laramie, was closed last night at Ted's Place, Colo between Fort Collins and the Wyoming state line, and is still closed. The Sherman Hill area is nothing to mess with in bad weather like this.

This all from good local sources -- the C-DOT road conditions website cotrip.com is down this weekend for previously scheduled maintenance. Unlucky timing. The Wyoming site is up, however.

Sorry, but stay home. I am. I had a trip to Sherman planned for today, first weekend off in many weeks. Maybe Sunday, but not today.

If you are in a position to go to the western slope side of the Rockies in Colorado, go there. Weather is decent there today. This is entirely an eastern slope and high plains storm.

It's about time for O man winter to start getting ready for El Nino, NWS predict a snow fall of 146"+ for Northern AZ!

Info on typical El Nino's in other areas would be interesting. Northern California is expecting warm rain, but other areas would be interesting to hear about.
I'm scheduled for a couple of Cheyenne Trips this winter, I wonder why nobody else has volunteered.

Just over the hills here high in the rockies in Vail, CO and nothing but blue sky and sun! Time for a mountain bike ride...

t

That's what I don't get. Oxnard/Ventura/Pt Hueneme are bracing for a El Nino winter so they are sand bagging a lot of storm drains. Didn't make a lot of sense to me so I asked and the response was "We do not want the run off to run into the ocean" Whiskey Tango Foxtrot!

R/
ss

Just walked out with a yard stick and I've got 7 inches of nice powder in my yard on
the hill just east of Fremont, NE. Forecast last night was for a trace, no accumulation.

They are just getting parts of I-80 & 25 opened up at 11am. US 85 is still unnecessary travel restricted. I80 west to the summit is closed but Laramie west is open. Rawlins eastbound is still closed.
Bob Krieger
UP retired
Cheyenne

Bob Krieger
Cheyenne, WY

Just by coincidence yesterday afternoon I was researching the Blizzard of 1949 for a woman in Cheyenne who was stranded on a passenger train in Cheyenne during that storm. She said the railroad let everyone stay on the train, but they had to go into the depot to use the bathrooms. I have four boxes of telegrams and letters plus a large file on the blizzard, plus plenty of pictures. Very interesting reading. The UP was closed down on and off from January 5 to the end of February that year. The telegrams tell a tale of trains held, trains stranded, trains detoured and schedules thrown out the window. Temperatures fell to 51 below zero with 80 mph winds. JB-UP Museum

Soonersailor Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> That's what I don't get. Oxnard/Ventura/Pt Hueneme
> are bracing for a El Nino winter so they are sand
> bagging a lot of storm drains. Didn't make a lot
> of sense to me so I asked and the response was "We
> do not want the run off to run into the ocean"
> Whiskey Tango Foxtrot!
>
> R/
> ss


Hey Sooner
Been here for over 40 years. Remember the El Nino several years ago. Lots of rain.SP Coast Line shut down due to flooding.Saw a picture of the Santa Barbara station. Both tracks covered by water from a creek overflowing. Looke like a river!

Paul Bliss
Oxnard CA

Soonersailor Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> That's what I don't get. Oxnard/Ventura/Pt Hueneme
> are bracing for a El Nino winter so they are sand
> bagging a lot of storm drains. Didn't make a lot
> of sense to me so I asked and the response was "We
> do not want the run off to run into the ocean"
> Whiskey Tango Foxtrot!
>
> R/
> ss

The drains run wild in Socal with all the fire damage runoff. Mud slides everywhere



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/10/09 11:44 by WAF.

TCnR Wrote:
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> I'm scheduled for a couple of Cheyenne Trips this
> winter, I wonder why nobody else has volunteered.
I did more than my fair share of traveling thru Cheyenne during my 26+ years of being a OTR Trucker in all 48 + canada. And nothing compare to O'man Winter saying Howdy when struck on top of ELK MTN on I-80 in a 50+mph Blizzard with a frozen crossover fuel line (the good old days?)!

Colorado DOT road conditions website cotrip.org (sorry I said .com earlier) is back up. I-25 is back open into Wyoming. US 287 to the west side of Sherman Hill and Laramie still closed.

Like the new design -- much improved. Better for a quick check before departing for a railfanning trip.

We received alot of snow, I don't know about Blizzard. This morning it was snowing straight up and down, which does not happen alot here in Cheyenne. I made it down to the Sherman Hill Club this morning to work a little on our new yard for a show we are going to in less than a month. My old 72 ford F250 did good in the snow as usual.

Wow, just made the I-80 trip across Wyoming 2 days ago!

Elk Mtn, now thats something to hate during winter. I have been there, done that and can vouch for the sheer miser ability of it. Not looking forward to it this year. Gonna try and convince my disp to "keep me out of the snow". So far, so good. In cloudy, but sorta warm Memphis now and headed for New Orleans. Not missing any of it. Ben

ddavies Wrote:
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> Wow, just made the I-80 trip across Wyoming 2 days
> ago!

The pictures of that new bridge dedication with 844 looked like a wonderful late fall day in Cheyenne. Which was about three days ago, as I recall...

ns2557 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Elk Mtn,. Gonna try and convince my
> disp to "keep me out of the snow". So far, so
> good..
> Ben
Good luck with that IDEA, I try it the first few years and saw more snow than most until I started to tell my Dispatcher/Flt mgr that I wanted to go into snow country that I volunteer to Slap all the Iron at no charge and the deeper the snow the better after that THEY RARELY sent me into Snow country, GO FIGURE!
But the good thing about ELK is if it gets too bad you can hopefully (if it not also snow in) bypass it & watch UNCLE PETE action along HWY 30.
Woody+pug

pugnet Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> ns2557 Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Elk Mtn,. Gonna try and convince my
> > disp to "keep me out of the snow". So far, so
> > good..
> > Ben
> Good luck with that IDEA, I try it the first
> few years and saw more snow than most until I
> started to tell my Dispatcher/Flt mgr that I
> wanted to go into snow country that I volunteer to
> Slap all the Iron at no charge and the deeper the
> snow the better after that THEY RARELY sent me
> into Snow country, GO FIGURE!
> But the good thing about ELK is if it gets too
> bad you can hopefully (if it not also snow in)
> bypass it & watch UNCLE PETE action along HWY 30.
> Woody+pug


These guys have been pretty good with me for the two years I have been here. Like I said, so far so good. I did catch abit of snow in Colo tho. Loaded in Greely and went east on I70.And I have done the US30 trip when I thought I80 was bad. Good run for the most part, it does seem to keep ya out of the worst of it if going the "other way". Take care. Ben