Denver Blizzard, 1982

Posted Thu Mar 20, 2003 in

In 1982 and 1983, my family and I lived in Denver, Colorado, where I worked for an engineering consulting firm. We lived there for about sixteen months between my Masters and Ph.D. work. There are a lot of stories from that time.

But, the story I want to tell was prompted by the blizzard that Denver is suffering through. At Christmas, 1982, we were preparing to travel home for the holiday. My wife wasn’t quite ready to leave Christmas Eve after I got off work, so I rested while she finished up and we planned to leave Christmas morning. We got the car packed and ready to go.

I awoke at about 0100 and peeked out the window. It was snowing hard, the big flakes that accumulate quickly. I woke my wife and said “If we’re leaving, we better leave now. If not, we’re likely to get snowed in.” There was already six inches of snow on the ground.

We grabbed the kids, made a pallet in the back seat, and bedded them down. We left town at about 0130. It was snowing so hard it was difficult to see. As we drove down Interstate 70, I could make only about 35mph. We listened to the radio and could tell that they were closing the road behind us.

We kept moving. The snow appeared to radiate from a point in front of the car, and the point moved as the wind changed direction. There was little traffic on the road and I would have been afraid to follow someone anyway. Fortunately, my Pontiac Phoenix had front wheel drive and was solid on the road despite the snow.

We stopped in Limon, after about four hours of driving, for a break and some coffee. The road closed behind us.

After a short break, we drove on and in another hour drove out of the snow to meet some minor icing in Kansas. The remainder of the drive was fairly easy, even as tired as I was.

Denver caught two feet of snow in that blizzard and the city was still recovering when we returned a week later. I was right; we would not have made it out of town had we not left when we did.

The kids slept through the entire ordeal and didn’t wake up till we stopped for breakfast.

  1. I remember it well. I was in elementary school at the time. Great read. Sounded like an adventure! --russ dale, Denver, CO — RAD    1 January 2004, 05:15    #

  2. Another survivor! Thanks! — ruminator    1 January 2004, 23:43    #

  3. I remember it well! I was a junior in HS. It was my first Christmas in Colorado and my first White Christmas ever (moved from Washington, DC, area, and before that lived in Mississippi).

    — L Kuhl    22 November 2005, 11:01    #