DENVER—A powerful wintery storm dumped heavy snow on parts of Colorado on Tuesday while bringing the threat of tornadoes to millions in central and southern states.
Much of Interstate 70, Colorado’s main east-west highway, was closed because of blizzard conditions on the state’s Eastern Plains as well as in northwest Kansas, where up to 15 inches of snow and heavy winds are in the forecast. Dozens of semi-trailers and cars were lined up along the interstate and a nearby frontage road on Tuesday as strong winds blew snow across the road.
“I’ve got to go to Liberal, Kansas, and this is the best way to go. So I came this way not realizing that they were shutting the roads down, that it was that bad,” said truck driver Thomas Meyer, who was traveling with his dog, Little Hank.
Truck driver Fernando Rendell said he was headed to Kansas City, Missouri, but stopped after seeing two trucks in the ditch along the slick interstate.
As the system pushed east, the National Weather Service issued a tornado watch for parts of Texas, including Houston, and a large swath of Arkansas, where heavy rain had led to standing water in Little Rock and winds caused property damage in the southwest part of the state. Tornado watches also are in effect for most of Louisiana and western Mississippi through the evening hours, while Alabama is bracing for severe storms on Wednesday.
