Winter storm closes roads in Wyoming, Colorado, Nebraska

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A powerful late winter snowstorm intensified over the central Rocky Mountains on Sunday with heavy snow and wind leading to airport and road closures, power outages and avalanche warnings in parts of Colorado, Wyoming and Nebraska.

The National Weather Service in Wyoming called it a “historic and crippling” winter storm that would cause extremely dangerous to impossible travel conditions through at least early Monday.

Major roads southeast of a line that crosses diagonally from the southwest corner of Wyoming to its northeast corner were closed Sunday, including roads in and out of Cheyenne and Casper.

The Wyoming Department of Transportation suspended plowing operations in the Casper area Sunday due to heavy snow and a lack of visibility, the agency said.

“We had several plows drive off the roadway due to limited to zero visibility,” the agency said on its Facebook page.

Farther south, a record of over 2 feet (61 centimeters) of snow had fallen just outside Cheyenne by noon Sunday, the weather service reported. A SNOTEL site at Windy Peak in the Laramie Range reported 52 inches (1.3 meters) of snow in a 24-hour period ending Sunday morning, the weather service said.

A person who answered the phone at the Love's Travel Stop in Cheyenne, but declined to give his name, said 98 trucks were stranded there. They were taking fuel out a can at a time to fill up generators on the trucks to keep their refrigerators or freezers running, he said.

Interstate 80 was closed across southern Wyoming and into the Nebraska panhandle, where 19 inches (48 centimeters) of snow were reported just south of Gering, Nebraska. Interstate 25 was closed north from Fort Collins, Colorado, to its end at Buffalo, Wyoming.

Denver Public Schools are taking a snow day on Monday, as will schools in Cheyenne and Casper in Wyoming. Some government offices in those areas also will be closed Monday.

At Denver International Airport, the runways were closed just before noon Sunday due to blowing snow and poor visibilities. “Many flights have already been canceled so the runway closures have minimal impacts,” airport officials said in social media posts. More than 19 inches (48 centimeters) of snow had fallen at the airport by 11 a.m. Sunday, the weather service said.

The Northern Colorado Regional Airport that serves the Fort Collins and Loveland areas was closed Sunday morning after receiving a foot (30 centimeters) of snow, according to the airport’s social media accounts.

An avalanche warning was in effect Sunday for the Rocky Mountains west of Fort Collins, Boulder, Denver and Colorado Springs where “intense snowfall will cause large and destructive avalanches,” Colorado Avalanche Center said. The center warned that avalanches could happen in unusual locations and recommended against traveling in the backcountry.

An avalanche blocked Colorado Highway 14 in north-central Colorado on Sunday, the Department of Transportation said.

Nearly 32,000 Xcel Energy customers were without power Sunday in north-central Colorado, while smaller outages were reported in the same area by the Poudre Valley Rural Electric Association

Rocky Mountain Power in Wyoming has reported several outages. At one point overnight, service was interrupted to nearly 2,600 customers in Casper and Glenrock and 2,800 customers in Lander. Just under 1,000 people were without power in the Casper area on Sunday.

The power company expects more service interruptions as the storm continues.

"Heavy snow and drifting conditions from wind is expected to make travel and repair work increasingly difficult today," Curt Mansfield, vice president of operations for Rocky Mountain Power said in a statement Sunday.

冬季风暴关闭了内布拉斯加州科罗拉多州怀俄明州的道路

星期天，落基山脉中部地区发生了一场强烈的冬季暴风雪，大雪和大风导致科罗拉多州，怀俄明州和内布拉斯加州部分地区的机场和道路关闭，停电和雪崩警告。

怀俄明州国家气象局称这是一场“历史性且残酷的”冬季风暴，它将对至少到周一早些时候的不可能出行造成极大危险。

从怀俄明州西南角到东北角对角线的一条东南方向的主要道路在周日关闭，包括进出夏安和卡斯珀的道路。

该机构说，怀俄明州运输部周日由于大雪和缺乏能见度而暂停了在卡斯珀地区的犁耕作业。

该机构在其Facebook页面上说：“由于有限的可见性，我们在路面上开了几辆犁。”

气象服务台报道，在更南的南部，到夏安（Cheyenne）外，在夏安（Chayenne）外降雪量超过2英尺（61厘米）的记录。气象服务机构称，在拉勒米山脉（Raramie Range）的Windy Peak的SNOTEL站点在截至周日早晨的24小时内报告了52英寸（1.3米）的积雪。

一位在夏安的“爱的旅行站”接听电话但拒绝透露名字的人说，有98辆卡车被困在那里。他说，他们一次从罐子里取出燃料来装满卡车上的发电机，以保持冰箱或冰柜的运转。

80号州际公路在怀俄明州南部和内布拉斯加州的盘根地带被关闭，据报道内布拉斯加州格令市以南有19英寸（48厘米）的积雪。25号州际公路从科罗拉多州柯林斯堡（Fort Collins）向北关闭，一直到怀俄明州的布法罗（Buffalo）尽头。

周一，丹佛公立学校，怀俄明州夏安和卡斯珀的学校都会下雪。这些地区的一些政府机构也将在周一关闭。

在丹佛国际机场，由于吹雪和能见度差，跑道在星期日正午之前关闭。机场官员在社交媒体帖子中说：“许多航班已经被取消，因此关闭跑道影响很小。” 气象局说，到周日上午11点时，机场已经积雪超过19英寸（48厘米）。

据机场的社交媒体报道，为柯林斯堡和洛夫兰地区提供服务的北科罗拉多州区域机场在收到一英尺（30厘米）的积雪后于周日早晨关闭。