Early Storm Drops 36 Inches on Mountain States

36 inches! Colorado braces for more snow

 Schools close, flights disrupted, and dozens of car crashes reported

 The Associated Press, Oct . 29, 2009

DENVER - A slow-moving autumn storm in areas of the Rocky Mountains and western plains has dumped more than three feet of snow in parts of Colorado, closed dozens of schools, delayed flights and left behind icy roads for the morning commute Thursday.

The storm spread a blanket of white from northern Utah's Wasatch Front to western Nebraska's northern border with South Dakota. Forecasters said some areas high in the Rocky Mountains could have 4 feet of snow by the time the storm moved out later Thursday.

The heaviest snowfall was expected to shift to the Plains, and the National Weather Service said gusty winds of up to 40 mph could create severe drifts.

"The plows are out, but the roads are kind of icy and snowpacked," said Ryan Drake, traffic operations specialist for the Colorado Department of Transportation. "Be patient and take your time."

The storm that began Tuesday already added enough snow to break records for total snowfall in October for Wyoming. It was the biggest October snowmaker in the Denver area since 1997, said Byron Louis, a National Weather Service hydrologist.

Many schools in metro Denver remained closed Thursday, but the University of Colorado in Boulder and Colorado State University in Fort Collins, where 17.5 inches fell, decided to reopen, a day after sending students home early. At least three high school football playoff games set for Thursday in Nebraska were postponed.

Air travelers had to change plans, too. At Denver International Airport, all four runways were expected to open after snow crews worked through the night, said spokesman Chuck Cannon. He said airlines had not indicated how many flights would be canceled.

The airport warned of more delays, saying it would see a foot of snow by Thursday afternoon.

The Denver metro area will be under a winter storm warning until 6 p.m. Thursday, with snow through the afternoon, blowing snow throughout the day and temperatures in the upper 20s, the National Weather Service said. As much as 7 more inches could fall around parts of Denver before the storm ends.

Dangerous driving

On the roads, conditions were worse. Multicar pileups were reported in Colorado and Wyoming, with countless fender-benders across the region.

In Colorado, U.S. Highway 6 is closed to Loveland Pass, while Interstate I-25 is closed from Wellington to Cheyenne. The closure is to prevent traffic congestion going into Wyoming, where driving conditions are worse than in northern Colorado. Interstate 80 is closed from Cheyenne to Laramie.

Wyoming officials said they'd had reports of about 70 crashes, most of them on I-80, before deciding to close the road Wednesday.

"People are just not slowing down enough," Wyoming Department of Transportation spokesman Bruce Burrows said.

Laramie County District 1 schools have closed and some state offices are opening later in the day. High winds were causing drifting snow and reduced visibility, and two or three inches of snow were expected to fall Thursday, said meteorologist John Griffith with the National Weather Service in Cheyenne.

The Utah Highway Patrol reported 51 crashes as the storm moved through. Police departments across Colorado started asking drivers in accidents without injuries to just exchange information and report the accidents to police later.

However, no traffic deaths were reported.

Whiteout conditions were predicted Thursday for the plains areas of eastern Colorado and Wyoming and western Nebraska.

Gusts in Southern Calif.

Winds were a concern farther west, too.

Winds gusting through Southern California forced a commuter train line to shut down and knocked a tree onto a car, but no serious injuries have been reported.

The National Weather Service warned of the possibility of further gusts up to 50 mph through Thursday morning in Los Angeles and Ventura counties. Fire danger warnings were up in some areas.

Back in Wyoming, the storm brought some big rig truckers to a halt.

"The smart thing is to just shut it down and call it a day," said Donnel Farrow of Willingboro, N.J. Farrow was hauling mail from Pennsylvania to Salt Lake City but pulled over his rig at a truck stop Wednesday just east of Cheyenne, Wyo., after a rough drive across Nebraska.

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