First the snow, then the cold

Daniel Lande’s cell phone wouldn’t stop ringing Thursday.

Big snow days are part of the reason Lande got into the towing business more than 20 years ago — he likes to help people. But he’s a one-man company, and a man can do only so much.

“It got to the point where I was screaming and yelling, saying ‘I can’t get any work done if you keep calling me,’ ” Lande said. “It was like I was in the Twilight Zone.”

Tow-truck drivers were busy Thursday as a long-overdue snow dump caused a rash of crashes that snarled traffic across the Pikes Peak region — the vanguard of an arctic blast that is expected to push temperatures below zero by Friday night.

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Colorado Springs had received 4 to 5 inches of snow as of 7:45 p.m. Thursday, while Monument Hill and Woodland Park had recorded 5 to 8 inches of powder, said Kyle Mozley, National Weather Service meteorologist.

By Friday morning, Colorado Springs was expected to have received 4 to 8 inches and Woodland Park nearly a foot of snow.

The sudden, if expected, arrival of the storm, however, made for a slick commute Thursday, snarling traffic and leading to two crashes of at least 20 vehicles.

The Colorado Springs Streets Division called out its full complement of plows at about 2:45 p.m., sending 50 plows into the city to help travelers get through the evening commute, operations manager Ken Winckler said.

The city planned to dump salt on downtown streets, and a combination of sand and salt elsewhere, Winckler said. Much of the city will receive anti-skid, an 85/15 mix of sand and salt. Certain areas of the city will receive Ice Slicer, a chemical that helps quickly melt snow and ice.

But the help couldn’t come soon enough.

Vehicles slid down South Carefree Circle just west of Powers Boulevard, causing a 23-vehicle pileup, said Colorado Springs police Sgt. L.C. Morgan.

Another 20 or so vehicles hit each other — and a city bus — on Flintridge Drive just north of Montebello Drive. No one was seriously injured in either pileup.

Slick conditions and crashes in the late afternoon also prompted authorities to close some major roads, from Union Boulevard in the heart of the city to Mesa Road in Fountain. As the sun sank, emergency dispatchers reported city buses getting stuck all over town in the gathering gloom.

Jeff Balch, president of Knob Hill Towing, said his phone also rang off the hook, but his fleet of 15 tow trucks kept responding to calls.

“It’s certainly not the worst (storm), but we haven’t had any snow, and people forget how to drive in it,” he said.

The Colorado Springs Airport fared a little better. Several flights were delayed as the result of the snow in Colorado Springs, and one flight to Denver was canceled because of the bad weather there.

Colorado’s mountains expect a heaping dose of snow though Friday morning, with most ski areas expecting a foot or more.

The snow is part of a weather system that’s expected to put Colorado Springs in the deep freeze for New Year’s Eve. Forecasters predict a high Friday of 12 degrees, and an overnight low of minus 7.

“Wind chills in the minus 20-degree range are not out of the question,” Mozley said.

The shot of snow will help Colorado Springs make up for a tinder-dry fall and early winter, but the relief won’t last long. The snow dumped Thursday was “more fluff; it’s real light,” Mozley said, meaning it would not add much moisture to the ground.

The snow, though, was a welcome sight for at least one business.

Though he has been able to keep a steady income by cleaning up downed trees in recent wind storms, Dave Carpenter, an owner of Tall Timbers Tree & Shrub Service, said the snow was a blessed sight for his plowing business.

“The guys that are in the business, it’s kind of a godsend,” Carpenter said. “Keep doing the snow dance.”

EDITOR'S NOTE: This version has been corrected to state that Balch's company, boasting a fleet of 15 vehicles, continued to operate in the snow storm.

-- Gazette reporter Tom Roeder contributed to this report.