Winter Storm Heads East
Saturday, February 4, 2012 at 7:38AM 
A powerful winter storm left Colorado with up to 6 feet of snow in the Rocky Mountain foothills and forced the cancellation of more than 600 flights in Denver before heading east toward the central plains.
Blizzard conditions that hit the eastern Colorado plains, including 5-foot drifts in parts of Elbert County, began easing with forecasters advising of blowing snow early Saturday.
Light snow was falling intermittently in the Denver area early Saturday, but was expected to taper off by midday as the bulk of the storm moves out of the state, forecasters said
The winter storm warnings have expired in Colorado, but the several counties in the state's eastern plains remain under a blowing snow advisory.
However, a winter storm warning was issued for parts of western Nebraska and northeastern Kansas and into southeastern Iowa. A blizzard warning remained on Friday for four counties in western Nebraska.
A band of heavy snow stalled over Nebraska, dumping nearly 13 inches in some spots.
Near-zero visibility forced officials to close all 160 miles of westbound Interstate 70 between the Kansas state line and metro Denver. A 70-mile stretch of eastbound I-70 from metro Denver to the plains town of Limon.
The snow was a welcome boost to several ski resorts that have suffered below-average snowfall this season. But while Echo Mountain and other resorts close to Denver celebrated up to 14 inches of new snow, the storm only dusted larger resorts, such as Vail, with a few inches in the central Colorado mountains.
