Truckers Stranded, Schools Closed : Deep, Driving Snow Shuts Major Roads in the West

A powerful storm brought wind-whipped snow up to two feet deep to parts of the West on Tuesday. Travelers on highways from Wyoming to Arizona were stranded and many schools were closed.

Las Vegas received its second snowfall of the winter, a rarity in the southern Nevada desert, and parts of Wyoming had their first major snow of the season.

Blowing snow cut visibility across northern Arizona, and the state Public Safety Department closed a 107-mile section of Interstate 40, between Ash Fork and Winslow. Some stranded truckers said they probably would not get back on the road until today.

“I tell you, it’s bad. I can’t get out of here,” Larry Fetherolf said. The truck driver said he pulled off I-40 into the Bellemont Truck Center, at an elevation of about 7,000 feet west of Flagstaff, late Monday, because “you couldn’t see anything.”

Trucks in Ditches

Numerous accidents occurred along I-40, police said, but no serious injuries were reported. Truckers said they saw a number of cars and jackknifed trucks in the ditches.

Schools were closed in Flagstaff, where there was 13 inches of snow and drifts 2 1/2 feet deep.

Arizona authorities closed more than 100 miles of Interstate 17 also, from Flagstaff south to a point 25 miles north of Phoenix. “The road at this point is not passable,” duty officer Dan Sanders said.

Lander, Wyo., received about 24 inches of snow, and schools there were closed. The Wyoming Highway Patrol said several highways were closed in central Wyoming.

“We’ve got a lot of truckers stranded. Of course, that means a lot of coffee,” said Virginia Higinbotham, the morning cook at Husky Super Stop Cafe in Lander. ‘It’s just terrible.”

Snowfall was measured at 21 inches in Gibson Dam, Mont.; 14 inches at Lima, Mont., and 12 inches at Pinto Junction, Utah, and Red Lodge, Mont.

Storm Warnings Posted

The National Weather Service issued winter storm warnings for sections of Utah, Nevada, Montana, Idaho, Arizona and Wyoming. Travelers’ advisories were posted for a wider surrounding area.

In the Northeast, meanwhile, residents were still digging out from Monday’s storm.