Storm Brings Snow To Denver Area

Sunday, October 21st 2007, 6:00 pm

By: News On 6

DENVER (AP) -- A wintry storm blew across the Colorado mountains and through Denver on Sunday, dropping more than 7 inches of snow south of the city and forcing the Colorado Rockies to practice indoors just three days before their first World Series.

Loveland Ski Area reported 5 inches of new snow and Arapaho Basin reported 3.

``It's awesome,'' said David James of Golden, who was skiing at Loveland. ``Plenty of powder to land in.''

Jackson County, about 100 miles northwest of Denver, reported 9 inches. Parker, about 15 miles southeast of Denver, reported 7.3 inches, although some parts of town got less.

``I think we got a good 3 to 4 inches,'' said Kaela Mansfield, who works at a 7-Eleven store in Parker. ``It's starting to melt away. It stopped snowing and the sun came out.''

Flurries swirled in downtown Denver near Coors Field Sunday morning but the snow melted as soon as it hit the streets. The temperature hovered around 40 by mid-afternoon.

Anticipating the weather, the Rockies had made plans to practice in batting cages and on indoor pitching mounds.

The World Series starts on Wednesday in Boston or Cleveland, depending on the winner of Sunday night's Game 7 of the American League Championship Series between the Indians and Red Sox.

The preliminary outlook for Saturday, when the first game will be played in Denver, is good, National Weather Service meteorologist Frank Benton said.

``Our best guess is that it's going to cool down over the rest of the week but warm up for the weekend,'' Benton said.

Most of the northern and central Colorado mountains were under a winter storm watch Sunday. Up to 14 inches of snow was expected in places.

Trucks and other heavy vehicles were required to use tire chains on parts of Interstate 70 in the mountains and on several mountain passes in southwest and northwest Colorado.

Independence Pass between Aspen and Leadville was closed.