The Colorado Springs Department of Public Works is fully prepared to combat Saturday’s anticipated snow ahead of Super Bowl Sunday, according to a Friday announcement.

Friday morning commuters had a run-in with flurries and slick conditions as round one of the weekend storm hit the area just before 5 a.m.

Meteorologist Kyle Mozley with the National Weather Service in Pueblo said Colorado Springs received roughly a quarter inch of snow Friday, with the bulk of the storm expected to hit Saturday.

“We got a quick shot of snow (Friday), just enough to make the morning commute a bit sloppy,” Mozley said.

According to Corey Farkas, Colorado Springs operations and maintenance division manager, it was a quick call by the early morning snow patrol crews to issue a full call-out of snow removal services throughout the city.

“Between 5 a.m. and 5:30 a.m., we had a full call out of the roadways. This is one of these events where timing plays a big factor — right around when the snow started accumulating was right around that morning rush hour time frame, which makes it very difficult for our crews because they get stuck in traffic just like everyone else,” Farkas said.

Police Department spokesperson Ira Cronin said the police communications center received roughly 75 crash calls between midnight and 11 a.m. Friday — 35 of which were during the 7 a.m. morning rush hour.

The department issued an accident alert status just before 7 a.m. Friday. Although the alert was called off around 10 a.m., Cronin said the department was prepared to issue a second alert status Friday evening and heading into Saturday.

According to Farkas, a full call-out of snow removal services will be in place throughout the weekend to mitigate snow impacts.

Farkas said the city’s snow removal team is fully staffed this season, and is in “much better shape” than years past.

“Snow is expected to come in heavily tomorrow. … We’ll be running in 12-hour shifts for the remainder of the weekend until this (snow) event starts to lift and begin to move east,” Farkas said. 

Farkas said crews will be focusing on primary and secondary roadways as the storm begins Saturday, with plans to move to recognized “hot spots” throughout the city and residential areas that have been prone to ice in the past, adding that the time frame for clean-up could vary. 

“If we have a two-day storm, it will typically take us an additional day after that to get everything widened out and the slush removed. It can take another day to get everything completely cleaned up and back to normal operations.”

The weather service’s Mozley said “as far as the (type) of snow, it won’t be as wet as we’ve seen in the last couple of storms, but it will still be on the wetter side.”

Farkas wished to remind the public to stay home if possible during snow events, and to be mindful of plows on roadways if travel Saturday is unavoidable. 

There’s an 80% chance of snow showers and a high of 30 degrees forecast for Saturday, with the bulk of the storm expected to hit after 9 a.m.

A dusting of snow lies on the rocks in Garden of the Gods in October 2012 after the first snowstorm on the season hit the Colorado Springs area.

the gazette file