Colorado snowstorm closes highways and schools for a second straight day

Thousands in Colorado were without power as authorities closed highways and schools during a winter storm that pummeled the Denver area and threatened to drop another half foot there overnight into Friday.

The storm comes as other parts of the country face severe weather. Massive chunks of hail pelted parts of Kansas and Missouri on Wednesday night, with storms unleashing possible tornadoes in Kansas. Earlier this month, a blizzard dumped more than 10 feet (3 meters) of snow on a northern California ski resort.

The Colorado storm shut down a stretch of Interstate 70, the state's main eastwest highway, in the mountains for much of the day Thursday, stranding some drivers for hours, mainly because of trucks that got stuck in the snow, blocking other traffic, authorities said. To try to keep the highway open, no trucks will be allowed on a portion of I-70 from Eagle/Vail to Morrison until noon on Friday.

Multiple routes may be blocked or have delays resulting from crashes, stuck vehicles and other issues.

The storm, which began Wednesday night, delivered the slushy, wet snow typical for March, one of the snowiest months in Denver. The heaviest accumulations were expected in Colorado's Front Range region, where the eastern plains meet the Rocky Mountains and the vast majority of the state's population lives. Most of the snow was falling in the foothills west of Denver.

Those higher elevations had up to 3 feet (91 centimeters) of snow by Thursday and more than another foot (30 centimeters) was forecast by Friday morning. Denver itself got up to about 9 inches (23 centimeters) by Thursday. Another 3 to 7 inches (8 to 18 centimeters) was expected in the Denver area by Friday morning.