A winter storm has led some Boulder County and Broomfield agencies to expand emergency sheltering over the next few days.
The storm has brought heavy snowfall and freezing weather to Boulder and Broomfield counties as well as other parts of the Front Range since Tuesday night.
In Longmont, HOPE will offer overnight sheltering for severe weather tonight at Messiah Lutheran Church, 1335 Francis St. Doors open at 5:30 p.m., and more information is available at 720-494-4673 or hopeforlongmont.org.
In Boulder, All Roads, formerly the Boulder Shelter for the Homeless, is open today during its normal hours but is unable to offer expanded sheltering. The shelter will offer overnight shelter tonight, but it will be closed during the day.
All Roads, the city’s largest homeless shelter, used to expand its capacity from 160 to 180 beds only during critical weather, but this year, the shelter began offering 180 beds permanently. At a City Council meeting Thursday night, Kurt Firnhaber, director of Boulder Housing and Human Services, said the shelter cannot offer more than 180 beds and that the city would not be offering any additional sheltering for this storm.
Lyndsy Morse-Casillas, a spokesperson for Boulder, confirmed the city will not be opening a recreation center or other makeshift extreme weather shelter because the storm does not meet the city’s criteria for critical weather.
In the city’s recently updated winter weather protocol, there need to be three days of weather forecasts with daily highs of 5 degrees or below, heavy precipitation, high winds and nightly low temperatures of 0 degrees or lower for an extreme weather shelter to open.
“An extreme weather shelter must meet (certain) criteria, and we have to have the resources to be able to stand it up, because it’s really resource intensive to do that,” she said, adding, “(With) this storm, I think that’s unlikely because it’s not cold enough, but it is a possibility and is something we’re preparing for this winter.”
Andy Schultheiss, a spokesperson for All Roads, said it had been a “rough week” for the shelter, which had to turn away a record number of visitors this week, and there aren’t enough staff or resources for the shelter to open during the day on weekends. Amid steep budget cuts from the county, Schultheiss said, All Roads may need to decrease its overnight capacity next year but is aiming not to do so until at least late winter.
And in Broomfield, Almost Home has a Severe Weather Activation Program that kicks in during inclement weather. In weather 32 degrees or below with wet conditions, the SWAP program activates and offers hotel and motel vouchers to households experiencing literal homelessness through their case manager. Wet conditions entail at least a 25% chance of rain or snow.
When SWAP is activated, Broomfield County residents can also access a limited number of hotel vouchers at Holy Trinity Anglican Church, 36 Garden Center, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. More information is available at almosthomeonline.org/swap or 303-970-8892.
Zach Hiris, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Boulder, said as of Friday morning, Boulder had received 5 to 9 inches of snowfall this week. The total could reach 12 to 14 inches by this morning, when the storm is expected to clear up.
Further east in the county, in Louisvillle and Lafayette, snowfalls of 4 to 8 inches had been reported as of Friday morning. In Longmont, the snow total was lower, closer to 2 to 4 inches. And in the foothills and mountains, there have been reports of 8 to 14 inches of snow, particularly near Nederland, said Hiris.
Temperatures over the past few days in Boulder have reached the upper 30s in the afternoon and the 20s overnight. Friday morning, the temperature reached 34 degrees, then cooled down to freezing when the snow started falling again. On Thursday, the highs reached about 42 degrees.
“It’s been kind of a wet storm. It hasn’t been particularly cold, but there certainly has been quite a bit of snowfall and (there’s) quite a bit more to go,” said Hiris.
While the Boulder area usually sees about 13.1 inches of snow in the month of November, it’s less typical for that snow to come all at once, according to Hiris. A storm like this one lasting several days and delivering this much snow is unusual for this time of year, he said.
Travelers are urged to use caution during the rush-hour commute because of wet conditions and heavy snowfall expected for that time of day.
“All the ingredients we’d look for a really difficult commute are really coming together for this evening,” Hiris said.
Today, light snow is expected for the first half of the day, but the skies should start to clear and temperatures should warm up into the 40s by the afternoon.
Boulder city facilities, including recreation centers, will open with a delayed start at 10 a.m. today. Public safety and critical weather employees will still be on duty.
Louisville city facilities, including city offices, the Louisville Public Library, and the Louisville Recreation and Senior Center, closed early Friday, and city officials will keep an eye on the weather and announce any changes in operating hours today. Residents may receive emailed alerts, but more information is also available at LouisvilleCO.gov or on social media.
Matthew Bennett and Corbett Stevenson contributed to this report.