Snow blankets parts of the Midwest

Ed Vossler fires up his chainsaw Sunday afternoon to cut apart a tree limb in a relative's lawn in Cheyenne, Wyoming that fell during a snow storm

CHEYENNE, Wyoming (AP) -- A snowstorm that had earlier blanketed most of Wyoming trained its fury on Cheyenne over the weekend, setting a record for snow fall so early in the fall, before plowing through Colorado and into western Nebraska.

Wyoming's capital recorded 10.5 inches of snow, though the accumulation was fleeting. Throughout Sunday, clumps of snow fell from sun-warmed trees and roofs and all but a couple of inches melted away.

Temperatures in the 50s and 60s were forecast for much of Wyoming on Monday and Tuesday, and temperatures in the 70s were expected in Colorado by Tuesday.

In Cheyenne, the last comparable September snowfall deposited 4.9 inches on September 28, 1985, according to the National Weather Service. Just under 6 inches fell on Cheyenne after midnight Sunday, a record for a single day in September, weather service technician Jim House said.

FOUR-DAY FORECASTS FOR 8,000 CITIES WORLDWIDE Enter your U.S. zip code: Zip goes to nearest of 8,000 cities Or, choose a state: Select Alabama Alaska Arizona Arkansas California Colorado Connecticut Delaware Florida Georgia Hawaii Idaho Illinois Indiana Iowa Kansas Kentucky Louisiana Maine Maryland Massachusetts Michigan Minnesota Mississippi Missouri Montana Nebraska Nevada New Hampshire New Jersey New Mexico New York North Carolina North Dakota Ohio Oklahoma Oregon Pennsylvania Rhode Island South Carolina South Dakota Tennessee Texas Utah Vermont Virginia Washington Washington, D.C. West Virgina Wisconsin Wyoming Or, browse the text listing: Complete listing of U.S. states  VIDEO Correspondent Reece Stein goes into the snow in Mill Creek Canyon, Utah Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media)     MESSAGE BOARD Nature's wrath

More than 1,200 travelers who were stranded in Rawlins and Rock Springs -- many of them for a second day -- began departing Sunday as Interstate 80 was reopened across Wyoming one section at a time.

"We had 15 miles in Rawlins that was nothing but a parking lot for trucks," said Don Brinkman, chairman of the Red Cross branch in Carbon County.

More than 500 travelers spent Saturday night at a Red Cross shelter set up at the Rawlins Family Recreation Center, and about 400 others stayed at the Wyoming National Guard armory in town.

Others traveler ended up in churches and a former train depot after the hotels filled up. Four hundred holed up in Rock Springs at an events complex and a recreation center.

"This town, the whole area, is just bumper to pumper trucks, cars moving vans you name it," said Judy Valentine, Sweetwater County emergency management coordinator, who was in Rock Springs.

Saturday evening, a 12-car pileup on Interstate 80 just east of Laramie delayed a University of Nevada bus and postponed for an hour a football game at the University of Wyoming. No one was seriously injured.

Tom and Linda Vaught, of Wichita, Kansas, had planned to spend a week camping in Yellowstone National Park. Instead they felt lucky just having a hotel room in Laramie.

"We've never been stuck like this, ever," Tom Vaught said. "We'll always remember Laramie."

Sledders take to the slopes at Washington Park in Casper, Wyoming on Saturday afternoon

Vaught said he went to the local Wal-Mart looking for gloves and found none. "I asked the lady where all the gloves were and she said the Nevada football team came in and cleaned us out," he said.

On Sunday, the storm dumped up to 15 inches of snow in Colorado's northern mountains and about 6 inches along the lower elevations of the Front Range. Power outages affecting thousands were reported across Larimer County, about 62 miles north of Denver, as the snow collected on leafy trees and snapped branches, said Carl Burroughs of the weather service.

The storm came on the heels of record highs in some areas of Colorado, then pushed temperatures to record lows at Denver and Grand Junction.

The temperature of 29 degrees at Denver International Airport early Sunday tied the record set in 1926 while the 35 degrees at Walker Field Airport broke the old record of 37 set for Grand Junction in 1946.

Farther east, the storm covered the western half of Nebraska. Nearly 9 inches fell at Harrisburg, near the Wyoming state line, and about 61/2 inches fell at Scottsbluff.

Freezing temperatures were expected there into early Monday, with sunshine and warmer readings forecast by afternoon.

Copyright 2000 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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National Weather Service
American Red Cross
FlyDenver - Official Site for Denver International Airport

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