Rockies Snow Snarls Airports, Clogs Highways

Heavy snows in the Western mountain regions snarled air traffic Thursday in Denver and were blamed for a 40-car pileup on a Utah interstate. Up to 18 inches of snow was forecast before today in the southern and central Rockies, the National Weather Service said.

Up to a foot of snow fell in some parts of Colorado. Inbound flights at Denver’s Stapleton International Airport were delayed as much as three hours, and outbound flights were departing 90 minutes late, spokesman Norm Avery said.

The Federal Aviation Administration shut two major runways because of northerly winds.

Four inches of snow was on the ground at Alamosa and three inches fell on the Denver area Thursday.

Snow fell across Utah, where a snow advisory continued through Thursday afternoon in the eastern portion of the state. Up to nine inches of snow was measured at Kanosh and six inches at Knolls.

40-Car Pileup

Blowing snow and bumper-to-bumper traffic near Cedar City, Utah, touched off a 40-car pileup Wednesday night on Interstate 15. About 20 people were injured, two critically, and hundreds of travelers were backed up for hours, the Utah Highway Patrol said.

But there was good reason to give thanks at the Monarch Ski Area in the south-central Colorado mountains, which received a foot of new snow. Ski area operators in Vermont and Maine also were pleased.

In northern Vermont, a storm snapped power lines and dumped up to 14 inches of snow, and up to 13 inches fell at Big Diamond Pond, N.H. Nearly five inches fell at Coos County, N.H.

Snow continued across Upstate New York and northern New England on Thursday afternoon, with accumulations up to 14 inches. Snowfall totals in Maine ranged up to 15 inches.

“It’s more like Christmas than Thanksgiving, that’s for sure,” said Bob Elliott, a Conway, N.H., police dispatcher.

George Adamson at the National Weather Service’s Burlington, Vt., office advised people to stay off the roads. Temperatures dipped below freezing Thursday, making roads slick in parts of the state.

Mountainous areas in central Vermont received up to six inches of snow.