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Winter Storm Xylia Pummeled the Rockies and High Plains With Feet of Snow (RECAP) | The Weather Channel
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Winter Storm Xylia Pummeled the Rockies and High Plains With Feet of Snow (RECAP)

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At a Glance

  • Winter Storm Xylia was a crippling High Plains snowstorm in mid-March 2021.
  • Multiple feet of snow buried parts of Colorado, western Nebraska, western South Dakota and Wyoming.
  • Xylia set a one-day snowfall record in Cheyenne, Wyoming.

Winter Storm Xylia hammered parts of the Rockies and High Plains with heavy, wet snow and blizzard conditions March 13-14, 2021. Lighter snowfall from the storm also spread across the Midwest on March 15.

Xylia dumped over a foot of snowfall on many locations across parts of northern Colorado, southeast Wyoming, western Nebraska and southwest South Dakota. Some areas saw multiple feet of snowfall.

Cheyenne, Wyoming, was buried by 30.8 inches of snow from March 13-14. According to the National Weather Service, 22.7 inches of snow fell on March 14, alone, which smashed the city's all-time single-day snow record which was set on Nov. 20, 1979 (19.8 inches).

That snowstorm total was more than half of Cheyenne's average annual snowfall (60.3 inches).

The National Weather Service said snowdrifts in southeast Wyoming were 5 to 10 feet high in some areas.

Denver had its fourth-heaviest snowstorm on record after it piled up 27.1 inches. It was their heaviest since the March 2003 snowstorm.

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Snowdrifts 4 to 5 feet high were reported in and around parts of the Denver area.

The storm forced many road closures and shut down stretches of interstates in Colorado and Wyoming.

Xylia's top total was an estimated 52.5 inches at 7,900 feet in Wyoming's Laramie Range. 40 to 48 inches of snow was measured just southwest of Wheatland, Wyoming.

The heaviest total in Colorado was 48.5 inches near Buckhorn Mountain, which is located in the higher terrain to the west of Fort Collins.

Snow from Xylia wasn't as heavy farther east across the Midwest in parts of southern Minnesota, northern Iowa, northern Illinois and southern Wisconsin on March 15. Some locations in northern Minnesota and southern Iowa did pick up over 6 inches of snowfall.

DENVER, CO - MARCH 14: A snow plow clears a road on March 14, 2021 in Denver, Colorado. More than 1800 flights into and out of Denver have been canceled this weekend and highways around the state have been closed down as a winter storm hits the state. (Photo by Michael Ciaglo/Getty Images)
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DENVER, CO - MARCH 14: A snow plow clears a road on March 14, 2021 in Denver, Colorado. More than 1800 flights into and out of Denver have been canceled this weekend and highways around the state have been closed down as a winter storm hits the state. (Photo by Michael Ciaglo/Getty Images)

The Weather Company’s primary journalistic mission is to report on breaking weather news, the environment and the importance of science to our lives. This story does not necessarily represent the position of our parent company, IBM.

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