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Snow storm buries Colorado mountains, blizzard warning issued

DENVER People in parts of the Colorado mountains woke up to a winter mess this morning.
A powerful storm has dumped 18 inches of snow in the region, leaving wet and slushy highways that snarled traffic and shut down dozens of school districts. Near Colorado Springs, visibility was two to three feet for motorists.

A 125-mile corridor from Colorado Springs to the New Mexico border is under a blizzard warning.

Avalanche experts say recent storms have left a snowpack of up to two feet in the mountains, and several avalanches have already been reported.

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Blizzard pounds Colorado 
Roads closed, flights cancelled, tens of thousands without power

A storm is bringing blizzard conditions to a wide swath of Colorado today, dumping up 20 inches of snow in the mountains and leaving tens of thousands without power.

Southern portions of Interstate 25 are under a blizzard warning until 6 p.m. MT. Snow, along with strong winds, brought visibility down to near zero at times for the Monument Hill area down through Colorado Springs and Pueblo.

West of Denver, eastbound lanes of Interstate 70 were closed as far as Vail, 80 miles to the west, because of snow, a rock slide and a rash of collisions. About 25 miles of the westbound lanes also were closed.

More than 100 flights were canceled at Denver International Airport, mostly on United Airlines, the airport's busiest carrier. United, Frontier and Southwest airlines all reported delays; Frontier said some of its flights were two hours late.

"We expect it to be slow going through mid-afternoon," Southwest spokeswoman Paula Berg said.

Winds in Colorado Springs at the Air Force Academy were reported at 40 mph.

"We had no snow last night, and we've got about 14 inches now," said Terry Shaw, manager of the Sunmart gas station in the mountain town of Georgetown, about 30 miles west of Denver. "It's still snowing hard."

Idaho Springs, about 25 miles west of Denver, reported nearly 20 inches of snow. The National Weather Service said snow was falling at a rate of about 3 inches an hour in the southeast Denver area.

Near-zero visibility prompted officials to close 150 miles of eastbound I-70 from Denver to Burlington, near the Kansas border.

Many schools in the mountains and foothills canceled classes or set late start times. An early-voting station in Byers, about 30 miles east of Denver, closed for the day.

About 25,000 customers were without electricity in the Denver area after trees and branches snapped under the weight of the wet snow, bringing down power lines with them, Xcel Energy spokesman Tom Henley said.

On the wide-open Eastern Plains, residents and emergency managers braced for blowing snow whipped by winds forecast to reach up to 45 mph.

Red Cross officials sent supplies to Byers in case the weather stranded travelers along I-70 between Denver and the Kansas state line, the state's main east-west route.

"After (Hurricane) Katrina, you think differently about everything," said Robert Thompson, spokesman for the Red Cross. "I think we all learned good lessons from that. Whether it really hits hard or whether it blows over, come on, this is Colorado. Who knows? But we're ready to go."

The wind had already picked up this morning in Castle Rock, about 20 miles south of Denver, blowing snow sideways and cutting visibility.

Thomas Davis, an overnight desk clerk at a Days Inn motel in Colorado Springs, said he got a few calls from concerned guests wondering if they should check out early.

"I've been telling them it really doesn't look too bad," he said. "I don't foresee it being a really big blizzard."