Narrative:

About 80 NM from den we were advised that severe thunderstorms were in progress and they had shut off arrivals. We entered holding over hgo. Our alternate was abq. We were advised by ATC that the severe storms over the den airport were moving little and they expected the airport to remain closed for at least an hour. We only had 25 minutes of holding fuel. After extensive discussion with our dispatcher we decided to divert to cos. Approximately 35 other aircraft diverted to cos. 22 passengers wanted to deplane at cos and arrangements were made for them to do so.after about 90 minutes we were refueled and got a release for the flight to den. We started engines and taxied for takeoff. Once again den approach control shut off arrivals to den. After about a one hour delay we departed for den. Flight to den was normal.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: An A320 diverted to COS when their destination airport was closed by unforecast severe thunderstorms.

Narrative: About 80 NM from DEN we were advised that severe thunderstorms were in progress and they had shut off arrivals. We entered holding over HGO. Our alternate was ABQ. We were advised by ATC that the severe storms over the DEN airport were moving little and they expected the airport to remain closed for at least an hour. We only had 25 minutes of holding fuel. After extensive discussion with our Dispatcher we decided to divert to COS. Approximately 35 other aircraft diverted to COS. 22 passengers wanted to deplane at COS and arrangements were made for them to do so.After about 90 minutes we were refueled and got a release for the flight to DEN. We started engines and taxied for takeoff. Once again DEN Approach Control shut off arrivals to DEN. After about a one hour delay we departed for DEN. Flight to DEN was normal.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.