Up to 18 inches of snow was forecast in Denver and along the northern Colorado Front Range. As much as 4 feet was possible in the Colorado mountains. Cheyenne was expected to get at least 14 inches before the storm moves off Thursday afternoon.

The National Weather Service predicted similar amounts for a wide area of the Wyoming, Nebraska and Colorado plains. The storm also brought snow to northern Utah's Wasatch Front.

Most of the roughly 70 accidents in Wyoming happened on Interstate 80 before the Wyoming Department of Transportation closed the highway between Cheyenne and Laramie early Wednesday. Nine crashes caused injuries but no one was killed.

"People are just not slowing down enough," department spokesman Bruce Burrows said.

In Denver, slick roads caused rush-hour fender-benders Wednesday morning. Schools in Colorado and Nebraska closed pre-emptively as the forecast called for heavy precipitation Wednesday and Thursday. A Colorado Springs homeless shelter has decided to allow people who have been kicked out for breaking rules to return because of the inclement weather.

Meanwhile, wind was expected to be a concern on the flatlands.

"When we start getting those wind gusts on Thursday—gusts up to 40 mph—it's going to create some blowing and drifting snow and that's going to cause some problems," said Dan Deal, with the Weather Service in Cheyenne. Drifts several feet deep and wind chills as low as 10 degrees were forecast.

The system kicked up heavy winds and dust Tuesday in Nevada, Arizona and California. Blowing dust was blamed for unhealthy air quality in the San Joaquin Valley in California.

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Associated Press Writers Matt Joyce in Cheyenne, Oskar Garcia in Las Vegas and Scott Sonner in Reno, Nev., contributed to this report.
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