Snowstorm Blankets Rockies, Plains States

The season’s first widespread snowstorm rolled out of the northern Rockies on Wednesday and into the Plains with high winds and freezing temperatures.

Up to five inches of snow had fallen over central and eastern Wyoming by the time the storm moved out of the state at midday.

In Colorado, foothills west of Denver and some suburban lawns were laced with white and highways north of Colorado Springs were slippery. Winter Park, site of one of the state’s major ski areas, got four inches of snow, the National Weather Service reported.

Winds gusting to nearly 50 m.p.h. combined with temperatures in the low 30s to create a windchill of near zero around Colorado Springs.

In western South Dakota, Deadwood, Custer and higher elevations in the Black Hills reported from two to four inches of snow. On the plains of western Nebraska, an inch of snow was recorded at Scottsbluff.