Spring Blizzard Buries Central Rockies; Visibility Near Zero

A storm buried the central Rockies under more than four feet of snow Thursday, delaying scores of flights at Denver’s Stapleton International Airport and closing schools and businesses.

Heavy snow fell across northeast Colorado, with 48 inches reported at Buckhorn Mountain. A foot of fresh snow blanketed the Denver area by the evening rush hour, weather officials said.

Near Zero Visibility

The storm caused numerous minor traffic accidents, giving motorists a longer-than-usual commute and creating visibilities of near zero at times.

“The roads will continue to be pretty nasty,� National Weather Service forecaster Mike Holzinger said. “I guess we would say this is a worse-than-average storm. But we do get this kind of weather in the spring.�

The snow and gusting winds continued throughout the day, with as much as 24 inches of snow reported in Denver’s western suburbs, Holzinger said. The weather service was calling for total accumulations of up to 30 inches in the foothills.

Snow emergencies were declared for Douglas, Arapahoe and Adams counties and for the city of Ft. Collins, where more than a foot of snow had fallen, but the Colorado State Patrol said there were no reports of serious accidents.

Scores of schools and businesses were forced to close for the day along Colorado’s Front Range as snowplows and sand trucks were unable to keep up with the storm’s pace.

Flight delays of up to an hour were reported at Stapleton, airport spokesman Norm Avery said. He forecast “lots of cancellations� if the storm continued to build.

Lighter snow fell across southeast Wyoming, the Nebraska Panhandle and northwest Kansas.