16-Inch Snowfall Hits Yellowstone Park

A storm moving out of the Rockies took aim at the Plains states Friday after bringing 16 inches of snow in Yellowstone National Park, closing roadways and causing one death.

A separate storm spread rain and snow across the Pacific Northwest, where travelers’ advisories predicting up to eight inches of snow were posted for the Cascades and Siskiyou Mountains and for mountain passes in eastern Oregon.

“I think winter’s here,” police Officer Steve Ferneu said in Crawford, Neb., where three inches of snow fell Friday morning.

Storm Begins in Rockies

The storm began Thursday in the Colorado Rockies and spread snow northward into Wyoming and Montana and eastward into Nebraska and the Dakotas. As much as 16 inches fell in Wyoming’s Yellowstone National Park, while a foot of snow blanketed Moskee, Wyo., the National Weather Service said.

Snow also fell to the west, with Alta, Utah, reporting 18 inches on the ground, and Tooele, Utah, receiving 16 inches over two days.

In Montana, 18 inches of snow was reported at Red Lodge, but only four inches fell in Butte and Billings. Farther east, five inches of snow had fallen at Rapid City, S.D., with up to eight inches expected.

One person was killed in a weather-related automobile accident Friday near Billings, the Highway Patrol said.

Interstate Closed

The storm forced authorities to temporarily close Interstate 90 between Moorcroft and Sundance, Wyo., because of poor conditions.

In the Black Hills, a youth who was deer hunting with his father was lost for six hours before he walked into a Wyoming rancher’s home late Thursday, Weston County Undersheriff Steve Nunez said. Nathan Ramker, 15, of Eau Claire, Wis., was not hurt, the officer said.

A mixture of rain, sleet and snow fell in northern Minnesota, where a winter storm watch was posted. Six more inches of snow was expected.

“It’s snowing quite hard now at the north end of the Red River Valley,” said Bill Togstad, a weather service meteorologist in Minneapolis.

Hazardous road conditions also prompted the weather service to post travelers’ advisories over portions of central Wyoming, eastern Montana, the northern and central mountains of Colorado, the New Mexico mountains and the Nebraska panhandle.