DENVER (AP) -- More than a foot of wet, heavy snow closed highways and canceled flights in parts of Colorado and Wyoming on Friday, snarling traffic and forcing school closures and flight cancellations.
Up to 3 feet more of the white stuff is expected to fall by Saturday night in mountainous areas at elevations above 6,000 feet, forecasters said.
A 140-mile stretch of Interstate 80 and many smaller roads in Wyoming were closed Friday. A 30-mile stretch of Interstate 25 from Wellington, Colo., to Cheyenne, Wyo., was closed briefly.
Authorities had no immediate reports of serious injuries, but a snow plow driver suffered minor injuries late Thursday when his plow rolled down a snowpacked embankment on Red Mountain in southwestern Colorado. A motorist freed him.
Parts of central and southern Wyoming were under a winter storm warning. Federal courts and city offices were closed in Cheyenne, where at least 14 inches were predicted.
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Denver and Colorado Springs were expecting 10 to 20 inches of snow by Saturday night.
United Airlines, the dominant carrier at Denver International Airport, canceled 76 flights. The airport urged travelers to check with their airlines before leaving home. A spring storm last month stranded hundreds of passengers overnight.
Snow also delayed a bus convoy carrying 60 prisoners from Oklahoma to Wyoming.
The Wyoming Department of Corrections said the convoy had to stop a few miles into Wyoming on Thursday night because of traffic backups. The medium-security prisoners were waiting out the storm at a county jail in Laramie before continuing to a state prison in Rawlins, said department spokesman Carl Voigtsberger.
The storm was enough to worry Kim Fanning of Denver. She opted to take the bus to the Denver airport for a Friday flight she hoped to make to Las Vegas.
Fanning, 23, said she was surprised, but only a little, by the spring storm.
"I grew up here, so it's odd that it's snowing right now in Colorado. But not too odd," she said.
In Texas, thunderstorms moved through northern areas Friday. Thursday night, hail was so heavy in parts of west Texas that a stretch of Interstate 27 was shut down so snowplows could clear it away.
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At least four tornadoes touched down in west Texas on Thursday. No injuries were reported.
