Every church, school and major employer in Denver is closed (including non-essential employees of state and federal governments). Denver schools last day of the term would have been today, it turned out to have been Tuesday of this week.
The state's appellate courts, all Denver metro area courts, and virtually all courts in Eastern Colorado counties are closed. Specifically (including some courts that closed yesterday and haven't yet announced their plans today):
Adams, Arapahoe, Baca , Bent, Boulder, Cheyenne Wells, Clear Creek, Crowley, Denver, Douglas, Elbert, El Paso, Gilpin, Jefferson, Kiowa, Kit Carson, Larimer, Lincoln, Logan, Morgan, Phillips, Prowers, Pueblo, Sedgwick, Teller, Washington, Weld, Yuma
The U.S. District Court is closed until at least 10:00 a.m. today, as is the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals.
The post offices are closed and not delivering mail today. The buses aren't running (although light rail is running a reduced schedule). Denver International Airport is closed and may not be up and running until Friday. With days of passengers backed up, my own family's flight on Saturday is likely to be impacted.
I-25 is closed outside the Denver metropolitan area. I-70 is closed from the airport road to Kansas. I-76 is closed. Loveland Pass is closed. Almost every state and U.S. highway on the Front Range or Eastern Plains is closed, including U.S. highways 6, 36 and 85.
But, it isn't clear that U.S. 36 from Denver to Boulder, or Westbound I-70 are closed, although both were previously closed due to accidents as was Westbound U.S. 6 in metro Denver.
The National Guard has been called out to rescue stranded motorists and patrol closed roads. The Red Cross has shelters open for stranded travelers. If you need to know, go to 9 News, which consistently is the best for breaking local news stories like this one. It has deemed this event the "Holiday Blizzard."
All city of Denver operations not related to public safety, emergency shelters and snow removal are shut down. The Mayor is appealing for donations of sleds so kids without them can sled in parks and suggesting that people walk to local merchants rather than drive, if the need something.
Side streets, like the one I live on, are virtually impassable. No effort is made to clear them until major roadways are cleared. I won't even bother trying to dig out this time until the snow is over, as I learned my lesson in the last blizzard. Fortunately, the buried natural gas and water lines are working fine, as are our phone, electrical and DSL connections. As it happened, we had just stocked up at CostCo and with the week's groceries last weekend. So for us, it is time to work from home and have fun and games for the kids.
A blizzard is an odd emergency. For the vast majority of people, the optimal response is to do nothing.
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Also, the taxi services aren't running due to the fact that the people who pick up the phones can't get to work, so unless you know the personal cell number of a cab driver and usually take the bus to get just about everywhere (like me), you're pretty much SOL in the Denver area.
The Boulder Turnpike was shut down for a long time, but is now re-opened. And I-70 into the mountains is open, as even snowplow drivers like their powder days.
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