Snow Strands Thousands in Western Plains

Wind-whipped snow drifted across the western Plains today in the wake of a storm that dropped two feet of snow on the Rockies, closed more than 360 miles of interstate highway and stranded thousands of travelers.

“Roads are treacherous,” said Tripp County, S.D., Highway Supt. Marty Anderson.

Several thousand homes in rural northwestern Kansas were without electricity after ice accumulations snapped power lines.

One South Dakota traffic fatality was blamed on icy roads, and a passenger was killed when a small plane crashed in poor weather near Colby, Kan.

Chill Air Slides West

Chill air slid across the West, with Rawlins, Wyo., getting down to zero, and Tucson, a warm desert mecca for winter refugees, shivering through a record low for the date of 29 degrees.

The National Weather Service posted advisories warning of blowing and drifting snow from northern New Mexico across eastern Colorado into parts of Kansas, and rain, some of it freezing, fell to the east across the Plains.

Snow blown by wind gusting to 48 m.p.h. cut visibility to near zero over much of western Kansas today, the weather service said, and snow had piled up in drifts four to six feet high in parts of southeastern Colorado.

Colorado’s Winter Park ski area reported two feet of snow in two days, said meteorologist Keith Williams, and the Denver suburb of Littleton got 14 inches.

“It’s coming down like somebody just burst a feather pillow,” said Kiki Woodard, communications coordinator for Winter Park.

A 360-mile section of Interstate 70 between Denver and Hays, Kan., was reopened today after being closed for up to 20 hours, and many other highways in western Kansas also had been closed.

Travelers Stranded

The closings and poor driving conditions forced thousands of people, many returning home from Thanksgiving visits, to spend the night in motels and community shelters, especially along I-70.

At Limon, Colo., about 1,500 travelers spent the night at motels, churches, the town hall and schools, said Police Chief Jim Trahern.

About 130 miles to the east, about 500 people slept on blankets in the National Guard armory at Colby, Kan., and in the town’s community building.

Rick Lundy, 14, of Colorado Springs, Colo., said that he and his family had bought a dog over the holiday and that “we’re going to name it Colby, in honor of being stranded here.”

Sunday’s storm, Page 19.