Foot of Snow Hits Rockies; Wyo. State Offices Close

A snowstorm buried several Rocky Mountain states with up to a foot of snow today, closing schools, delaying flights and shutting down the state government in Cheyenne, Wyo., before expanding into the Plains.

State authorities in Wyoming told all 4,500 government workers to stay home, forcing state offices to close for the day. All schools were also closed.

“We’re trying to prevent a disaster rather than compound one,” said Secretary of State Thyra Thomson, who was serving as acting governor.

At least three traffic deaths in Utah were blamed on the storm, which caused scattered power outages in parts of northern Utah and southern Idaho.

Blizzard Warnings Up

Cheyenne was socked with seven inches of snow overnight and the central part of the state, where blizzard warnings were posted, was hit with over a foot. Snow continued to fall throughout the day.

The Cheyenne Municipal Airport was forced to close this morning because two snowplows broke down. “We couldn’t keep up with (the drifting snow),” airport manager John Wood said.

The storm dumped up to 17 inches of snow on Fort Collins in northern Colorado and 6 inches in downtown Denver, snarling morning rush hour traffic and giving thousands of schoolchildren the day off. Denver was expected to get another eight inches by Tuesday, forecasters said.

Fort Collins roads were slick and strewn with stalled and stranded cars.

“Driving is treacherous,” Bruce James of radio station KCOL said. “All schools are closed, including (Colorado State University).” He said an additional four to six inches were expected before the snow stopped.

Fort Collins Highway Patrol dispatcher Troy Fluharty said roads were open but they were “icy, snowpacked and the snow is drifting almost faster than our plows can plow it out.”

A spokesman at Stapleton International Airport in Denver, one of the nation’s busiest, said delays of up to 45 minutes were expected throughout the day due to low cloud cover and poor visibility. Russ Thoburn said all four runways were clear of snow, however.

Storm Moves East

The storm pushed eastward this morning, prompting winter storm watches in parts of Nebraska, Missouri and Kansas.

Snow was falling over those states, as well as parts of Michigan, Minnesota, the Dakotas and Iowa.