Wyoming Slammed By Snowstorm

An early snowstorm that began last Friday set a record for early snowfall in Wyoming's capital city of Cheyenne, with 10.5 inches of snow by Sunday morning.Thousands of travelers spent Saturday night in impromptu shelters set up throughout the state. After shutting down highways and leaving travelers stranded, the storm continued on to Colorado and Nebraska.

More than 1,200 people who had been stranded in the cities of Rock Springs and Rawlins for two days began their exodus after 200 miles of Interstate 80 were reopened on Sunday. Trucks that lined the sides of the highway combined with automobiles trying to get out of town, caused serious traffic jams. Don Brinkman, chairman of the Red Cross branch in Carbon County, said, "We had 15 miles in Rawlins that was nothing but a parking lot for trucks."

Brady Fox of the American Red Cross said that the owners of hundreds of tractor-trailers, campers and cars that lined the interstate and Rawlins neighborhood streets were asked not to park their rigs close together in order to avoid accumulations of carbon monoxide.

The storm dumped about 15 inches of snow in Colorado's northern mountains and about six inches in the lower elevations of the Front Range as it moved over the state on Sunday. The western half of Nebraska was also left blanketed and was predicted to continue experiencing freezing temperatures through early Monday.