Snow closes Colorado, Kansas and Nebreska roads; Midwest gets rain, thunderstorms

DENVER -- A large, fast-moving snowstorm closed sections of major highways in the Plains on Saturday and threatened to dump more than a foot of snow on the Upper Midwest.

Interstate 70, a major cross-country route, was closed for about 200 miles in both directions from just east of Denver to Colby, Kan., because of blowing snow and slippery pavement, according to Colorado and Kansas highway officials.

Between Denver and the beginning of the highway closure, about 35 cars collided in a pileup in whiteout conditions Saturday morning on an icy section of I-70. No major injuries were reported.

The weather service reported wind gusts of 68 mph in the Denver area.

A number of other highways also were closed in the two states.

"Basically there's zero visibility at this time," Kansas Department of Transportation spokeswoman Barb Blue said just before noon. "Travel is not recommended unless absolutely necessary."

A stretch of about 60 miles of I-80 was closed in both directions in western Nebraska, from Sidney to the Wyoming line, as snow was driven by wind gusting to 52 mph. Westbound traffic was barred from more than 270 miles of I-80, from North Platte to the Wyoming line, more than half the length of the state.

"It's nasty," said Carol McKain of the Nebraska State Patrol.

Farther east, a 30-mile stretch of U.S. 275 was closed in Nebraska because of flooding.

There was no power in parts of North Platte, Neb., where "the snow is so wet it's sticking to power poles and power lines," said Bill Taylor of the National Weather Service office in North Platte.

Flights continued operating Saturday at Denver International Airport, where thousands of travelers were stalled by a 45-hour shutdown during a pre-Christmas blizzard. The airport was on the western edge of the area of heavy snow and had only about an inch by late morning, spokesman Chuck Cannon said.

In addition to the snow on the western Plains, the vast storm system spread rain and thunderstorms across parts of Arkansas, Oklahoma and Missouri, with locally heavy snow across Iowa and southern Minnesota.

The weather service posted blizzard and winter storm warnings for parts of Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota, Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin.

Up to 16 inches of snow was possible by late Sunday in Minnesota, which would be the biggest snowfall so far in an unusually dry winter for that state, the weather service said.

Officials advised against unnecessary travel in southwestern Minnesota, where roads already were slippery from heavy sleet and freezing rain that fell during the night.

Four traffic deaths had been blamed on the storm in Wisconsin.