23 March 2016
Snow and Fire In The Plains
Posted by Dan Satterfield
Denver is getting buried by what may turn out to be a historic spring blizzard. Twenty inches, and it’s still falling. The airport has shut down, and travel is nearly impossible on area roads.

NASA Aqua Satellite image from midday Wed. Note the smoke plumes from large grass fires in KS. Thin cirrus clouds are visible just south of the fires.
The winds are gusting to 55 mph in Denver and the snow is pouring down, while the visibility is not much better than 300 meters. It’s a real high Plains blizzard, and it is bringing Denver to its knees today! Look at the obs from the airport:

From NOAA. BLSN= Blowing Snow. +SN= Heavy Snow. Freezing fog also reported.
Here is the surface map from Midday courtesy of NOAA-