Rockies Town Buried in Snow; Wind Chill at -70

A Colorado town was buried under five feet of snow and a New Mexico town was virtually cut off Friday as a storm moved through the Rockies, whipping up strong gusts that dropped wind-chill readings to 70 degrees below zero.

“That is an incredible amount of snow,” National Weather Service forecaster Paul Fike said, referring to the 60 inches that had fallen between Thursday and Friday afternoon in the rural town of Rye in southern Colorado.

“We’re fast running out of anyplace to put it,” Rye Fire Chief Charles Terrill said. “Everyone is just staying put and digging out today.”

No major problems were reported in the rural community, which has a population of about 200.

“I moved to Rye because I really like the weather here, but I never counted on this,” said Kim Barickman, who described the snowfall as chin-deep. “This is a sight. Nobody’s going to believe this.”

Many States Affected

The storm spread snow Friday over sections of Wyoming, Utah, Colorado, Nebraska, Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma and Texas. Temperatures were below zero from Montana to Minnesota, but strong gusts dropped the wind-chill factor to 70 degrees below zero in southwestern Wyoming.

In New Mexico, more than three feet of snow fell near Los Alamos, and state police said the city was virtually cut off because of snow-packed roads.

“We’re turning back all traffic on state Highway 4 into Los Alamos, where they’ve had three feet of snow since midnight and it’s still snowing heavily,” state police dispatcher Judy Miller said Friday.

Other heavy snowfall amounts included 24 inches at Westcliffe, Colo., 20 inches at Happy Jack, Ariz., and 12 inches at Monticello, Utah.

Arctic winds toppled tractor-trailer rigs along Interstate 15 in Utah. A gust of 94 m.p.h. was clocked at Centerville, where Union Pacific railroad officials used bulldozers and heavy machinery to open one of two tracks closed when gusts derailed 16 freight cars Thursday.

Schools Closed

The storm had dumped 17 inches of snow by Friday morning in the Denver area, where many schools were forced to remain closed for a second day. Shelters for the homeless were filled overnight as temperatures dropped below zero.