What storm? Sun makes it a memory

Ice and snow yielded to a murky slush across Colorado Springs on Friday as a sun-filled spring day delivered its answer to the blizzard a day earlier that closed businesses and schools and grounded flights at the Colorado Springs Airport.

"It just warmed up so well. If we still had cold temperatures, we would not be anywhere near this far along," said Ken Winckler, who helps supervise snow removal for the city's street division.

Although the plows were called out at noon Friday to continue their battle on the city's main thoroughfares, they mainly focused on keeping storm drains clear to accommodate rivers of snowmelt, he said.

The city was able to cancel the plowing it had expected for this morning.

"It's just not needed," Winckler said.

The spring storm Thursday packed a wallop across Colorado, although Colorado Springs was largely spared, with anywhere from 2 to 6 inches of snow, which quickly iced over in frigid temperatures and howling winds.

Elsewhere, weather observers recorded 19 inches at Colorado City, 14 inches at Monument, 6 inches at the Air Force Academy and more than 11 inches at Florissant, according to figures compiled by the National Weather Service.

An estimated 400 travelers were stranded at Denver International Airport Thursday night after the cancellation of 500 flights. The flights resumed Friday.

The governor's office responded by issuing a statewide disaster declaration, freeing up $200,000 worth of aid for storm-related problems.

A man and his teenage daughter were killed Friday afternoon after their car broadsided a pickup truck on U.S. Highway 24, two miles east of Judge Orr Road.

Limon resident Richard A. Taylor, 45 , was driving his 1997 Dodge Intrepid east on the highway around 2:15 p.m., when he lost control and crossed into the westbound lanes. It struck a westbound 2005 Ford F-350 driven by James Meek, of Peyton, the Colorado State Patrol said.

Taylor and his 17-year-old daughter, Bethany L. Taylor, both died. Meeks and his passenger were uninjured.

State troopers said the highway was wet and slushy at the time of the crash.

Two dozen people were taken to hospitals due to storm-related crashes on Interstate 25, though few serious injuries were reported. In Colorado Springs, hospitals reported only a handful of minor injuries that they attributed to weather-related accidents.

Usually, blizzards keep the crime rate low. Not Thursday. Police in Colorado Springs reported a robbery at the Academy Bank branch at 1650 Space Center Drive during the height of the storm, at 2 p.m. Three armed men got away with an undisclosed sum of money.

The snow was the undoing of one car thief. Officers followed footprints from a stolen car abandoned in an alley to the suspect inside a house in the 500 block of Bonfoy Avenue in central Colorado Springs.

Many of the city's residents were free to enjoy a day off Friday after employers canceled work as a precaution.

John Cornelio might have been considered "non-essential personnel" at Peterson Air Force Base on Friday, but he was a vital part of another plan: making full use of a snow day with his family.

Their morning began with fresh-baked blueberry muffins, followed by a trip to the Briargate YMCA, where Cornelio and his son, 8-year-old Riley, tossed a baseball in the gym and his wife, Stephanie, supervised their 6-year-old daughter, Katie, in the pool.

Things were getting back to normal in quarters of the animal kingdom, too.

Although giraffes were nowhere to be seen on the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo's Giraffe Cam - the animals venture outside only when the temperature is above 40 and the ground is dry - other creatures seemed to be enjoying the mix of sun and snow.

"We were over at the tigers, and they, of course, love it," said Diane Loschen, the zoo's marketing director. "The grizzlies are having a great time. The otters were having an amazing time - very active."

Cheyenne Mountain Zoo, which closed about 2 p.m. Thursday, opened as usual Friday, one of many businesses in the Pikes Peak region that were affected.

Air traffic in Colorado Springs - largely grounded during Thursday's storm - had resumed with some delays Friday morning, then returned to normal by mid-afternoon.

Airlines brought in a few extra flights to move people who were stuck during the snowstorm, an airport official said.

Even before the snow began melting, people appeared to use common sense during the morning commute, according to an observer with the Colorado Springs Fire Department.

Emergency crews had it relatively easy with this storm, partly because residents had plenty of notice that it was coming, said Lt. James Eddy.

"It seems like everybody has listened," he said.

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Call the writer at 636-0366.

Bill McKeown, Perry Swanson, Christopher Short, Carlyn Ray Mitchell and Jeff Thomas contributed to this story.

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And the winner is ... no one, really

On Wednesday, in a noble effort to prep the region for Thursday's blizzard, local television meteorologists threw out their best guesses on how much snow would fall in Colorado Springs.

Matt Meister, KRDO/Channel 13 predicted 2 to 4 inches
Brian Bledsoe, KKTV/Channel 11 predicted 3 to 8 inches
Mike Daniels, KOAA/Channels 5 & 30 predicted 3 to 8 inches
Terry Gerbstadt, KXRM/Channel 21 predicted 4 to 10 inches

The National Weather Service in Pueblo got reports of 2 to 6 inches, meaning Meister didn't predict high enough, and Bledsoe, Daniels and Gerbstadt didn't predict low enough. Better luck next time, guys.