Good Good Study, Day Day Up
If you want to improve your English abilities, especially writing skills, let's work together!
The news wasn't comforting: While some flight updates still said "on time," airport spokesman Steve Snyder said the runways likely wouldn't open before noon Friday.
The airport crews simply can't keep up with the falling and drifting snow, Snyder said. They plow the runways, but within 30 minutes, the tarmacs are covered again.
"It feels like I'm a refugee," said Lisa Maurer, a University of Wyoming student who was stuck at the Denver airport as she tried to make her way home to Germany. About 4,700 people hunkered down with her overnight after all flights there were canceled -- more than 1,000 of them Wednesday and Thursday morning alone.
Denver's streets were empty, and long stretches of highway in the eastern Colorado were so impassable, even the mail couldn't get through. Bus and light rail service in a six-county region was suspended.
The Colorado Avalanche postponed Thursday night's hockey game against the Calgary Flames. Wednesday night's basketball game between the Denver Nuggets and Phoenix Suns was also called off.
Cathy Stuart, 44, a sales representative from Dallas, spent the night on the airport's stone floor after her flight home was canceled.
"I don't feel bad, but I just want to get out of here," she said.
More than 3 feet of snow had fallen in some mountain areas since Wednesday morning, and up to 25 inches fell in the Denver metro area, including 2 more inches on Thursday.
A snowstorm also dumped up to 18 inches on New Mexico, icing roads and closing schools, and the National Weather Service warned that another storm was heading for New Mexico.
Heavy snow also fell on southeastern Wyoming on Wednesday closing interstate highways, stranding travelers and sending government workers home early in Cheyenne.
The amount of snow was hard to measure because it wasn't evenly distributed. "We have drifts up to 6 feet high in some locations, and in other areas, it is completely dry on the asphalt and concrete," said Mike Sowko, a forecaster with the National Weather Service in Cheyenne.
In Denver, Colorado Springs and other cities along the Rocky Mountain Front Range, workers slipped and slid their way home on Wednesday and stayed there, leaving the cities virtual ghost towns Thursday, typically a busy shopping day. A few pedestrians trudging down the middle of unplowed streets as the snow continued.
Three more inches of wind-whipped snow was expected Thursday before tapering off in the afternoon. Parts of Nebraska and Kansas were also getting snow and ice, but farther east, warmer temperatures meant even Chicago was only forecast to get heavy rain as the storm moved through.
Colorado Gov. Bill Owens declared a state of emergency and activated the National Guard, which assisted dozens of motorists on the highways around Denver and delivered diapers, formula and bottled water to Denver's airport.
Long stretches of Interstates 70, 25 and 76, major east-west and north-south routes through the Mountain West, were closed.
National Guard and sheriff's deputies rescued about 50 people overnight from snowbound vehicles in Weld County, where up to 22 inches of snow fell. About 18 others were still stuck in their cars Thursday morning, said Weld County emergency management director Roy Rudisill. In the Denver suburb of Broomfield, police rescued nearly 100 people stranded in cars along U.S. 36, the main route between Denver and Boulder.
"It's just amazing how many people are still out there," said Robert Thompson, spokesman for a local American Red Cross chapter.
"They pulled everyone off the highway," said Leon Medina, manager of a truck stop on Interstate 25 in Walsenburg, about 130 miles south of Denver. "Cars are all around the building. Trucks are all over, trucks and cars pulled into ditches."
Weather Service program manager Byron Louis said it was the most powerful storm to hit Colorado since March 2003, when a blizzard dumped up to 11 feet of snow in the mountains over several days and was blamed for at least six deaths.
Mail service was canceled in the eastern half of the state because mail carriers and trucks delivering mail four days before Christmas couldn't get through.
"We don't want to take the risk of clogging up the system just by being out there," said Al DeSarro, a U.S. Postal Service spokesman in Denver. "We're considering delivering on Sunday to make up for what's sure to be a backlog of mail."
At Denver International Airport, a major hub for United Airlines, United canceled more than 670 inbound flights, plus 160 that had been scheduled leave before noon Thursday. Frontier Airlines canceled up to 190 flights.
"It's the wind and blowing and drifting snow that is causing the main problems," Snyder said.
Some airport monitors tantalized travelers by listing "on time" beside arrivals and departures, but Snyder said that was probably caused by a computer glitch.
"I'm just happy to be alive. It was a terrifying drive," Sara Kelton said of the two-hour crawl over slick, snow-clogged roads to reach the airport.
Public transit service was not expected to resume until late Thursday at the earliest.
"It was comical for a while," said bus rider Matt Notter of Boulder. "Then we realized, this is an all-night thing."
丹佛，科羅拉多－－星期四，在被大雪圍困的丹佛國際機場，被困的旅客在售票的櫃台前排著隊，希望能在這場把科羅拉多最大的城市癱瘓掉的，厚達兩英尺的暴風雪中離開這座城市。
新聞並不讓人樂觀：雖然一些航班更新的信息仍然說“準時”，機場發言人Steve Snyder說跑道可能到星期五中午之前不會開放。
Snyder說機場工作人員跟不上雪下的速度。他們鏟了跑道上的雪，但３０分鍾不到，跑道上就又被雪覆蓋了。
“感覺我就是個難民，”懷俄明大學學生Lisa Maurer說。她在回德國老家的路上被困在了丹佛機場。大約４７００人同她一樣在所有航班被取消後不得不留在這裏－－星期三和星期四早上就超過１０００人。
丹佛的街道上空空的，科羅拉多東部綿延的公路是如此的無法逾越，即便是郵車也無法通過。６個郡的公共汽車和輕軌都暫時停運了。
科羅拉多雪崩隊推遲了星期四晚和卡爾加裏火焰隊的冰球比賽。星期三晚上丹佛掘金隊同鳳凰城太陽隊的籃球比賽也被取消了。
４４歲的達拉斯銷售代表Cathy Stuart在她回家的航班被取消後在機場的石頭地板上過了一夜。
“我倒不覺得糟糕，但就是想離開這裏，”她說。
從星期三早上開始在一些山區有超過３英尺的降雪，在大丹佛地區有超過２５英寸的降雪，其中包括星期四又下的２英寸。
在新墨西哥州一場暴風雪也下了１８英寸，造成了冰滑的路麵和學校關閉。而且國家氣象局警告說又一場風暴正向新墨西哥移動。
星期三大量的雪也落在懷俄明州東南部，造成了州際高速公路的關閉和旅客的滯留。在夏延，政府部門也早早把人們打發回家。
降雪量很難測量，因為降雪分布不均勻。“我們的降雪量在一些地方達到６英尺，然而在另一些地方，瀝青上和水泥上竟然幹幹的，”夏延國家氣象局的一位預報員Mike Sowko說。
在丹佛，科泉市，和其它一些沿著落基山的城市，上班的人在星期三跌跌撞撞地回了家就再也不出來了。所以星期四這些城市實際上就像是鬼城一樣。按往常說這應該是一個繁忙的購物日。寥寥幾個行人在沒有鏟過的街道中央蹣跚地走著，而雪仍然下著。
在星期四下午雪停之前，仍然會有３英寸的伴隨著風的降雪。內布拉斯加和堪薩斯的部分地區也會有雪和冰，但是再往東，溫暖的氣候意味著當風暴經過時甚至芝加哥也隻是會有暴雨。
科羅拉多州州長Bill Owens宣布進入緊急壯狀態而且動員了國民警衛隊。國民警衛隊幫助了丹佛周圍幾十位路邊的開車人，並且給丹佛機場送去了尿布，嬰兒食品和瓶裝水。
州際公路７０，２５，和７６大範圍的關閉，經過西部山區的東西向和南北向的主要道路也關閉了。
在Weld郡國民警衛隊和警察局救助了被雪圍困在車裏的５０人，那裏降了２２英寸的雪。Weld郡危機處理主任Roy Rudisill說星期四早上仍然有１８人被困在他們的車裏。在丹佛市郊的Broomfield，警察救助了１００個在連接丹佛和Boulder的主要道路U.S.36號上被困在車裏的人。
“真是奇怪那麽多的人仍然在那裏，”一位當地美國紅十字會發言人Robert Thompson說。
“他們把每一個人帶出了公路，”丹佛南麵１３０邁的Walsenburg的一個卡車休息站的經理Leon Median說。“樓周圍全是小車，卡車也到處都是，卡車和小車都開到溝裏去了。
氣象局節目主管Byron Louis說這是２００３年３月以來科羅拉多最大的降雪，那次的風暴幾天當中在山區降了１１英尺的雪，造成了至少６人死亡。
科州東部半個州的郵政服務被取消，因為在聖誕節前四天送郵件的卡車沒法通過。
“我們不想冒把這係統阻塞的危險，”一位美國郵政局在丹佛的發言人Al DeSarro說。 “我們在考慮星期天來送肯定是已經積壓的郵件。”
在丹佛國際機場，這裏是聯航的一個主要的樞紐，聯航取消了６７０個以上進港航班， 以及１６０個計劃星期四中午離港的航班。Frontier取消了１９０個以上的航班。
“造成麻煩主要是風和飄落的雪，”Snyder說。
一些機場的顯示器挑逗乘客似地在進港和出港航班旁列出“準時”。但是Snyder說那可能是計算機的小故障。
“我隻是高興我還活著。這車開得真是很可怕，”Sara Kelton在談到那往機場開的兩個小時的在又滑又開不動的路上的爬行時說。
公共交通預計最早星期四晚些時候才會恢複。
“有一陣我還覺得很好笑，”Boulder的公共汽車乘客Matt Notter說。“後來我發現這會持續一晚上。”