T’Naus Nieto
The Chronicle-News

Residents report still being trapped in homes by snow three days after storm 

On Monday, Nov. 11, The National Weather Service Pueblo published data drawn from the Community Collaborative Rain, Hail and Snow Network, which calculated snow totals, indicating that Trinidad had a snow total of 37.1 inches (over three feet), with residents in remote areas of the county still trapped in their homes three days after the last snow had fallen, on the morning of Nov. 9.  

The storm was so severe that the Las Animas County Board of County Commissioners declared a state of emergency for the entire county, with highways, businesses and government offices completely closed for days.  

The NWS Pueblo told The Chronicle-News, “The totals are a five-day tally from Nov. 5 through Nov. 9. There was another previous system that did bring precipitation to the region on Sunday, Nov. 3 into early on Nov. 4, which did bring portions of Las Animas County between 0.20 and 0.50 inches precipitations and couple inches of snow.”  

According to the NWS Pueblo, CoCoRaHS observers within the Trinidad area and its official COOP (cooperative observer network station) are still gathering further data at the time of writing.  

According to multiple residents of Las Animas County, people reported residents still being trapped in their homes by snow almost three days after the snow had stopped.  

One person took to social media and stated, “There are people by Piñon Canyon (Maneuver Site) that are stuck in their houses because they can’t get out. I know about 10 people that can’t get out of their houses by (Highway) 350 and mile marker 33 and all around Bear Springs.”  

Another person said, “Hopefully, CDOT (Colorado Department of Transportation) is getting to them. We are south of Piñon Canyon. They just got to my parents yesterday and my brother today. The snow is super deep, and it’s taking a while. How scary. I hope everyone is okay.”  

The most amount of snow in the state is believed to have fallen in the unincorporated community of San Isabel, which is located at about 8,500 feet of elevation in the Wet Mountains of Custer County, about 30 miles southwest of Pueblo. The National Weather Service report for this part of the state indicates that 54.9 inches of snow fell during the recent storm, with measurements taken after clearing snow from prior measurements to prevent compaction.