FEATURE: Hailstorms are an expected part of summer in the Rocky Mountain West. This is particularly true in parts of southeast Wyoming and northeast Colorado, an area known as "Hail Alley." It got that nickname because it experiences a higher frequency of large hail than most of the rest of the country. And it is expensive.
An insurance report released this spring showed that Colorado had the fourth-highest number of hail damage costs in the country last year… a total of 521 million dollars. Now, a major nationwide study of hail is taking place, the first of its kind in more than forty years. The project is the In-situ Collaborative Experiment for the Collection of Hail In the Plains. Otherwise known as ICE CHIP.
NEWS: US Highway 50 near Starr Nelson Road (west of Delta) was closed to westbound traffic early Saturday morning. (CORRECTION: The accident took place early Sunday morning.) The Colorado State Patrol responded to a report of a body found on the side of Highway. According to a press release from CSP, the initial call came from a driver who contacted Mesa County Dispatching, stating they believed they may have struck someone.
Further investigation revealed that the pedestrian was struck in the middle of the left lane on Highway 50 and had been hit by multiple vehicles. Two drivers have come forward and are cooperating with investigators. Based on evidence collected at the scene, an additional suspect vehicle may be involved. This is an ongoing story.
Representatives of United Food & Commercial Workers Local 7 and grocery giant Kroger, parent company of King Soopers and City Market, announced late last week that they had reached an agreement for a three-year contract. A representative for the union said the agreement came following 46 hours of bargaining and it constituted, “A major step forward.” Kroger has more than 25,000 employees in Colorado and representatives of both parties are looking at dates to ratify the agreement. More on this story can be found at Denver Business Journal.
Motorists heading to or from Durango over Coal Bank Pass on U.S. Hwy. 550 are advised to expect delays, as Colorado Dept. of Transportation crews will be working on rockfall mitigation and replacing a retaining wall near Deer Creek, in the stretch from about mile marker 56.9 to 59.3. The rockfall mitigation and wall replacement is scheduled to be completed by Oct. 1.
WATER NEWS: Pollutants from wildfires can linger in the water supply long after the flames are out. As KUNC’s Alex Hager reports, the findings are from a new study that looked at more than five hundred watersheds across the Western US.
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